LIBRARY 


University  of  California. 


Class 


I 


to  '/ 


1^ 


<2jsJ-,  3/.  s&~J-3. 


THE 


LIFE     AND     TIMES 


OP 


PHILIP  SCHUYLER. 


BT 


BENSON  J.   LOSSING,   LL.D. 


VOL.  I, 


NEW    YORK: 

SHELDON  &  COMPANY,  677  BROADWAY, 

AND  214  &  216  MERCER  ST. 


PREFACE. 

Of  all  the  prominent  men  in  public  life  in  America 
during  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  not  one  so 
really  distinguished  for  important  services  as  General 
Schuyler  has  received  so  little  attention  from  the  essayist, 
the  historian,  or  the  biographer,  as  he.  His  name  is  fami- 
liar to  all  who  possess  even  a  superficial  knowledge  of  his 
country's  annals,  and  yet,  to  all,  the  details  of  his  career 
in  civil  and  military  life  are  unknown.  His  figure,  as 
drawn  by  the  historian's  pen,  is  seen  in  bold  relief,  in  de- 
tached pictures  illustrative  of  his  country's  history  from 
the  dawn  of  the  birth-day  of  the  Kepublic  until  the  firm 
establishment  of  government  under  the  federal  constitu- 
tion ;  but  the  really  more  important  phases  of  his  useful 
life  are  hidden  or  but  imperfectly  apprehended. 

General  Schuyler's  career  was  not  brilliant  but  emi- 
nently useful.  He  was  one  of  those  men  who  often  work 
noiselessly  but  efficiently  ;  whose  labors  form  the  bases  of 
great  performances ;  who  lay  the  foundations  and  modestly 
assist  in  building  the  structures  of  law,  government,  morals, 
and  philosophy,  which  give  true  glory  to  a  state,  and  who 
rest  contented,  when  the  labor  is  over,  with  the  reward  of 
conscious  merit  as  benefactors  of  mankind,  indifferent  to 


VI  PBEFACE. 

that  popular  applause  which  follows  the  enunciation  of 
startling  opinions,  or  the  performance  of  brilliant  services. 

No  man  was  ever  more  keenly  alive  to  the  influence  of 
just  censure  or  praise  than  General  Schuyler  ;  and  yet  no 
man  ever  felt  less  concern  than  he  about  the  verdict  of  the 
popular  feeling  of  the  hour.  Conscious  of  unswerving 
rectitude  and  fidelity,  he  was  ever  perfectly  willing  to  sub- 
mit his  character  and  motives  to  the  analysis  of  dispas- 
sionate posterity. 

General  Schuyler  did  not  leave  behind  him  any  auto- 
biograph}^,  in  the  form  of  a  diary  or  a  narrative  of  his 
career.  Of  his  early  life  we  have  very  little  knowledge, 
except  such  as  is  preserved  in  family  traditions  and  pas- 
sages in  the  public  records.  Hitherto  no  biography  of  him 
has  been  written.  Many  years  ago  the  late  Chancellor 
Kent  wrote  a  brief  memoir  of  him,  which  occupies  a  few 
pages  in  the  American  Portrait  Gallery.  It  is  general  and 
necessarily  meager.  More  recently  the  late  Mr.  Irving, 
and  also  the  author  of  this  work,  in  their  respective  elabo- 
rate biographies  of  Washington,  have  given  many  new 
and  interesting  details  of  General  Schuyler's  military  life  ; 
and  his  grandson,  John  C.  Hamilton,  Esq.,  in  his  work  en- 
titled "  History  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  as  traced  in  the  Writings  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
and  his  Cotemporaries,"  has  given  much  more  information 
concerning  Schuyler's  civil  life  than  had  ever  before  been 
published.  With  these  exceptions,  very  little  has  hitherto 
been  written  concerning  the  subject  of  these  volumes. 

This  biography  of  General  Schuyler  has  been  con- 
structed with  much  labor  and  care,  from  family  traditions 


PREFACE.  VH 

and  records,  the  public  documents  and  records  of  the 
country,  printed  and  in  manuscript,  authentic  histories 
of  his  times,  and  his  own  correspondence.  The  latter,  I 
evidently  somewhat  imperfect,  but  still  voluminous,  com- 
mences with  the  period  when  the  old  War  for  Independence 
was  kindling,  and  extends  to  the  day  of  his  death,  in 
1804.  It  is  in  the  form  of  manuscript  letter  books 
on  his  part,  and  autograph  letters  on  the  part  of  his 
correspondents.  The  former  are  contained  in  several  large 
volumes ;  the  latter  comprise  several  thousand  loose  sheets 
of  paper,  all  carefully  filed  and  endorsed  by  Schuyler. 
These,  for  many  years  after  his  death,  were  neglected,  and 
became  somewhat  scattered.  Many  letters  have  been  lost, 
and  some  have  been  given  away  as  autographs. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  L.  Schuyler,  of  Dobbs'  Ferry, 
New  York  (the  former  a  grandson  of  General  Schuyler),  the 
world  is  indebted  for  the  collection  and  preservation  of  all 
that  are  left  of  the  papers  of  General  Schuyler.  Having, 
a  few  years  ago,  expressed  to  them  a  desire  to  prepare  a 
biography  of  their  illustrious  ancestor,  they  readily  offered 
me  the  free  use  of  the  materials  in  their  possession.  I  have 
examined  every  paper  carefully,  and  have  endeavored  to 
make  judicious  use  of  the  matter  placed  in  my  hands,  in 
the  preparation  of  a  history  of  the  "  Life  and  Times  of 
Philip  Schuyler,"  in  two  moderate  sized  volumes,  adapted 
to  popular  use. 

With  these  few  prefatory  remarks,  the  work  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  public. 

B.  J.  L. 

The  Ridge,  September,  1872. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGH 

Beverwyck,  or  Ancient  Albany. — The  Patroons  of  Rensselaerwyck.— Their 
Agent  and  Governor  Stuyvesant. — A  Row  in  Albany.— Philip  Pietersen 
Schuyler  in  the  Affray. — He  marries  the  Daughter  of  Van  Rensselaer's 
Agent. — Her  Character. —  Their  Son  Peter  becomes  first  Mayor  of  Al- 
bany.— Their  Son  John  the  Grandfather  of  General  Schuyler. — His  Expe- 
ditions against  the  French. — Peter  takes  Indian  Chiefs  to  England. — 
John  sent  on  a  Mission  to  Canada. — Influence  of  the  Schuyler  Family  over 
the  Indians. — Philip  Schuyler's  Family. — His  Birth IT 

CHAPTER    II. 

Social  and  Political  Aspect  of  New  York,  at  the  Time  of  Philip  Schuyler's 
Birth.—  Prevalknce  of  Democratic  Ideas. — Birth  of  Representative  Govern- 
ment in  New  York.— Toleration  of  the  Dutch.— The  Iroquois  Confederacy. — 
Their  Intercourse  with  the  Dutch,  and  its  Results. — Charter  of  Liberties. — 
Jacob  Leisler. — The  Liberty  of  the  Press  asserted  and  vindicated  in  the 
Person  of  John  Peter  Zenger. — Growth  of  Albany. — Society  there. — Pecu- 
liarities of  Social  and  Domestic  Life. — Hunting  and  Trading  Excursions..  .    27 

CHAPTER    III. 

Young  Schuyler  left  in  the  Care  of  his  Mother.— Her  Firmness  illus- 
trated.— Expected  War  with  the  French. — Frontiers  of  New  York  and 
New  England  exposed. — Alkany  included  in  every  Scheme  of  Invasion  — 
Effect  of  current  Excitement  on  young  Schuyler's  Mind. — Siege  and  Cap- 
ture of  Louisburg. — Effects  of  British  Injustice  on  the  Colonists Provi- 
dential Dispersion  of  a  French  Fleet.— Upper  Valley  of  the  Hudson  deso- 
lated.— Saratoga  Destroyed. — Murder  of  Colonel  Schuyler. — Excitement 
throughout  the  Colony. — Political  Affairs. — William  Johnson  made  Indian 
Commissioner. — Preparations  for  War. — Council  with  Indians  at  Albany. — 
Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. — The  War  a  School  for  American  Patriots 47 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Young  Schuler's  earlier  Instructors. — Neglect  of  Education. — List  of  Uni- 
versity Graduates  in  the  Province. —  Young  Schuyler  at  a  Huguenot 
School  in  New  Rochelle. — II is  Sufferings  from  Hereditary  Gout. — On  a 
Hunting  and  Trading  Excursion  in  the  Wilderness. — His  Defense  of  the 
Indians  from  Fraud. — TnEiR  Reverence  for  Him  and  his  Family  exhibited. — 
Character  of  the  People  of  New  York  City. — Young  Schuyler's  Letter 
respecting  his  first  evening  at  a  theater. —  schools,  newspapers,  and 
Libraries  in  New  York  City. — Religious  Divisions  and  Churches. — Relig- 
ious Controversies. — The  Independent  Reflector.— Excitement  in  the  Col- 
onies.—Material  Aspects  of  New  York 62 


C  ONT ENT 


CHAPTER    V. 

PAOH 

Schuyler's  Marriage  to  Catherine  Van  Rensselaer.  —  Her  Character. — 
Schuyler's  Personal  Appearance  at  that  Time. — Mrs.  Grant's  Description 
of  the  Household  and  Domestic  arrangements  of  "Aunt  Schuyler." — 
Charming  Lifk-Pictures  of  Society. — Schuyler's  Estate.— His  noble  Gen- 
erosity.— War  with  the  French  and  Indians 32 


CHAPTER    VI. 

The  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  only  a  Truce. — Disagreement  about  Bound- 
aries.— French  Ambition. — The  Ohio  Company  and  their  Land  Grant. — The 
French  in  the  Ohio  Valley. — Forts  built  in  the  Wilderness. — Young  Wash- 
ington sent  on  a  Mission  to  French  Officers. — Its  Result.— Preparations 
for  Hostilities. — Virginians  in  the  Field.— Other  Colonies  Tardy. — Troops 
march  from  alexandria  for  the  olilo. —  fort  i>u  quesne. — washington's 
Encounter  with  his  Enemy  at  Fort  Necessity. — His  Defeat. — Colonial  Con- 
vention at  Albany. — Its  Action  and  Results. — Proposed  Plan  of  Union  re- 
jected.— Arrival  of  General  Brad-dock. — Plan  of  the  Campaign  of  1755. — 
New  York  Politics. — Preparations  for  defending  the  Northern  Fron- 
tiers. —  Schuyler  Authorized  to  raise  a  Company,  and  Commissioned  a 
Captain 93 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Troops  at  Albany.-Expedition  against  Ticonderoga,under  General  Johnson. — 
Schuyler  in  the  Field. — General  Lyman  builds  Fort  Edward. — Troops 
March  for  Lake  George.— Desolation  of  Acadie  by  the  New  Englanders. — 
Braddock's  unfortunate  Expedition. — Failure  of  Expedition  against  Niag- 
ara.—The  Provincial  Army  at  Lake  George.— Approach  of  French  and 
Indians  under  Dieskau. — Defeat  of  Colonel  Williams. — Death  of  Williams 
and  King  Hendrick. — Attack  upon  Johnson's  Camp. — The  French  Repulsed. — 
Dieskau  badly  Wounded. —  Pursuit  not  Allowed. —  Johnson  builds  Fort 
William  Henry. — Is  Knighted. — His  Meanness. — Captain  Schuyler's  Nup- 
tials.— Dieskau  in  Albany. — Hospitably  treated  by  Schuyler's  Family. — 
Dieskau's  Letter  to  Schuyler Ill 


CHAPTER    VI II. 

Shirley's  Plan  for  the  Campaign  of  1756.— Loudoun  a  weak  and  indolent 
Man  succeeds  Shirley  as  Commander-in-chief. —  England  declares  War 
against  France. — Abercrombie,  Loudoun's  Lieutenant,  at  Albany. — Brad- 
street's  Expedition  to  Oswego. — Encounter  with  and  Repui.se  of  the  French 
on  the  Oswego  river. — Generous  Conduct  of  Captain  Schuyler. — Montcalm 
at  Ticonderoga. — His  Expedition  against  Oswego. — Captures  and  demolishes 
the  Forts. — Loudoun's  Irritating  conduct  in  New  York. — Indians  Smitten 
at  Kittanning. — Captain  Schuyler  leaves  the  Service. — Is  frequently  Con- 
sulted.— Loudoun's  Plans  condemned  and  his  Inefficiency  deplored. — Weak- 
ness of  the  British  Cabinet. — Expedition  against  Louisburg  defeated  by 
Loudoun's  Tardiness. — Montcalm  captures  Fort  William  Henry. — Bad  Con- 
duct of  General  Webb. — Pitt  called  to  the  Head  of  Public  Affairs. — His 
Efficiency  and  Popularity. — Plans  a  vigorous  Campaign. — His  Liberality 
Responded  to. — Abercrombie  in  Chief  Command. — Capture  of  Louisburg. — 
Expedition  against  Quebec  abandoned 127 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER    IX. 

PAGE 

Captain  Schuyler  and  Lord  Howe. — Schuyler  promoted  to  Major  and  joins 
the  Army. —  Lord  Howe's  Character  and  Services. — Expedition  against 
tlconderoga. — passage  of  the  altmy  ovkr  lake  george. — tlie  french  out- 
POST8  Surprised. — Skirmish  in  tiik  Forest. —Lord  Howe  Killed. — Attack  on 
tlcon'deroga. — tlie  british  repulsed  with  great  loss,  and  retreat  to  the 
Head  of  Lake  George. — Captain  Schuyler  conveys  Lord  Howe  to  Albany 
for  Interment. —Curious  Phenomenon. — Bradstreet's  Expedition  against 
Fort  Frontenac. —  Schuyler  at  Oswego. — Capture  of  Frontenac. —  Fort 
Stanwix. — Expedition  against  Fort  Du  Quesne. — Incidents  of  the  Expe- 
dition.—The  Fort  abandoned. — B'rencii  Pride  humbled  14C 


CHAPTER    X. 

Final  Struggle  between  the  French  and  English  for  the  Mastery  in  Amer- 
ica.— Pitt's  Scheme  for  conquering  all  Canada. — Amherst  in  chief  Com- 
mand.— Campaign  of  1759.— Advance  upon  Ticonderoga. — Capture  of  Fort 
Niagara  by  the  British. — Schuyler  forwards  Supplies  to  the  Army  under 
Amherst. — The  French  flee  from  Lake  Champlain. — Wolfe  before  Quebec. — 
The  City  Taken. — Death  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm. — Unsuccessful  Attempt 
to  recover  Quebec. — Montreal  taken  by  the  British. — Capture  of  Detroit.  162 


CHAPTER    XI. 


Colonel  Bradstreet  commits  his  Private  Affairs  to  Schuyler. — Schuyler 
goe8to  England  tosettle  Bradstrf.et's  public  Accounts. — Stirring  Incidents 
of  his  Voyage. — Performs  his  Duties  and  Returns. — Affairs  in  England. — 
Lord  Stirling. — Commercial  Restrictions. — Unaided  Struggles  of  the  Col- 
onies.—Political  Affairs  in  England. —  Writs  of  Assistance  and  their 
Fruits. — James  Otis  on  the  Subject. —  Political  Affairs  in  New  York. — 
Question  of  Church  and  State  revived. —  Schuyler  on  the  Side  of  the 
People. — Affairs  in  the  West  Indies. — The  British  Arms  successful. — Finan- 
cial Condition  of  France.— Treaty  of  Paris.  —  Indian  War  in  the  South- 
west.— Pontiac's  Conspiracy  and  Defeat 179 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Schuyler  in  Civil  Employment.— Proprietor  of  large  Tracts  op  Land.— Cor- 
respondence with  Professor  Brande  of  London.— Land  Schemes.— Obstacles 
in  the  Way  of  Emigration. — Boundary  Disputes. — Schuyler  a  Commissioner 
tosettle  them. — Stirring  Scenes  in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants. — Hostile 
Collisions. — Schuyler  an  active  Participant  in  the  Disputes. — The  Stamp 
Act. — Violent  Opposition  to  it. — Stamp  Act  congress  in  New  York. — Riots. — 
Repeal  of  the  Act.— Rejoicings. — Statues  voted  to  the  King  and  Pitt.— The 
Declaratory  Act  and  its  Effect  on  the  Americans. — The  New  York  Assem- 
bly and  the  Governor  at  Variance.— Offensive  Parliamentary  Acts. — 
Letters  of  a  Pennsylvania  Farmer 19(5 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

FAGK 

schuyler  an  active  but  conservative  politician. — a  welcome  glte8t  in  n  ew 
York. — Participates  in  the  Rejoicings  there  on  the  Repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act. — Is  intimate  with  Governor  Sir  Henry  Moore. — Their  Families  visit 

EACH  OTHER. — 18  ENGAGED  IN  THE  COMMISSARY  DEPARTMENT. — RAISES  A  REGIMENT 

and  is  Commissioned  a  Colonel. — Aids  the  Boundary  Commissioners. — His 
Country-seat  at  Saratoga. —  Correspondence  with  Professor  Brande. — 
Establishes  a  Flax-mill  at  Saratoga.— Elected  a  Member  of  the  Colonial 
Assembly. — Embassy  of  Southern  Indians  to  Sir  William  Johnson.— Colonel 

SCHUYLER  A  LEADING  REPUBLICAN  IN  THE  NEW  ASSEMBLY. — BLOW  AIMED  AT  FkEE 

Discussion. — Action  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  Assemblies. — Troops  in 
Boston. — Non-importation  Leagues 214 

CHAPTER      XIV. 

Schuyler  a  Leader  in  the  assembly. — Riots  in  New  York. — Address  to  the 
Governor  written  by  Schuyler. — Irs  Loyalty  and  Independence. — Transla- 
tion of  the  Dutch  Records  of  Albany. — The  Governor  officially  offended 
by  bold  Resolutions  of  the  Assembly. — He  Dissolves  the  Assembly. — 
Troubles  in  New  York. — Schuyler's  Relations  with  Sir  William  Johnson 
and  Governor  Moore. — His  Vigilance  and  Activity  as  a  Legislator. — His 
Immigration  Scheme. — The  Indian  Trade.— Schuyler's  Attempt  to  purify 
Legislation. — Events  in  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  and  other  Provinces. — 
The  British  Ministry  baffled. — Effects  of  Non-importation  Leagues 230 


CHAPTER      XV. 

Death  of  Governor  Moore. — Colden  his  Successor. — Schuyler  banquets  with 
the  Sons  of  Liberty  in  New  York.  —  Coalition  between  Colden  and  De 
Lancey. — A  Deceptive  Financial  Scheme. — Public  Alarm. — Great  Meeting 
in  the  Open  Air. — An  offensive  Placard  pronounced  a  Libel  by  the  As- 

BEMBLY. — ScnUYLER  ALONE,  IN  THAT  BODY,  STANDS  BY  THE  PEOPLE. — Hr  NOMIN- 
ATES Edward  Burke  for  the  Agency  of  New  York. — McDougal  Imprisoned 
as  the  Author  of  the  Libelous  Placard. —  Popular  Enthusiasm  in  his 
Favor. — Loyalist  Party  gain  Ascendency  in  the  Assembly. — Affrays  in 
New  York.- The  "Boston  Massacre." — Political  Changes  in  New  York. — 
Lord  Dunmore  Governor. — Abject  Address  of  the  Assembly  deplored  by 
Schuyler  and  his  Friends. — Schuyler  disabled  by  Gout. — New  Hampshire 
Grant?. — Ethan  Allen  and  his  Movements. — Schuyler  in  the  Disaffected 
Assembly  of  1772. — Difficulty  between  Him  and  Henry  Van  Schaack. — 
Governor  Tryon  and  his  Land  Speculations. — Schuyler's  Scheme  for  pre- 
venting Counterfeiting. — He  submits  a  Statement  of  "The  just  Rights  of 
New  York,"  in  the  Matter  in  Dispute  with  the  New  Hampshire  Grants.— It 
offends  the  new  england  people. 245 


CHAPTER      XVI. 

SCHUYLER  PROPOSED  FOR  A  JUDGE  IN  CHARLOTTE    COUNTY. — LORD   NORTH'S  SCHEME 

in  Relation  to  Tea. — East  India  Company  send  Tea  to  America. — The  Tea 
bent  back  or  destroyed. — "  boston  tea  ljarty."— flrmness  of  the  sons  of 
Liberty  in  New  York. — Schuyler  confined  w^ith  the  Gout. — Parties  in  New 
York. — Committer  of  Correspondence  appointed  by  the  Assembly. — Depar- 


CONTEXTS.  Xlll 

I'AOH 
TTTRE  OF  GOVERNOR  TrYON  FOR  ENGLAND. — RETALIATORY  MEASURES  OF  PARLIA- 
MENT.— Great  Excitement  in  America. — The  Revolution  kindling. — Minute 
Men. — The  Boston  Port  Bill,  and  its  Results. — Excitement  in  New  York. — 
Puelic  Proceedings  there.  —  Continental  Congress  proposed.  —  "Great 
Meeting  in  the  Fields."— Alexander  Hamilton. — Effect  of  his  Oratory. — 
Schuyler's  Health  compels  Him  to  Decline  a  Seat  in  the  Continental 
Congress 266 

CHAPTER      XVII. 

The  First  Continental  Congress. — Its  Measures. — Adjourns  Conditionally. — 
The  Colonies  in  a  Blaze  of  Excitement. — Political  Correspondence  between 
Councilor  Smith  and  Schuyler. — Efforts  of  Loyalists  against  the  Repub- 
licans. —  Schuyler  in  New  York.  —  Death  of  General  Bradstreet.  — 
Schuyler's  Friendly  Services  in  behalf  of  his  Family. — Schuyler  the 
acknowledged  leader  in  the  assembly. — tests  of  the  political  character 
of  the  Assembly. — Rejoicings  of  Loyalists. — Efforts  of  Schuyler  and  his 
Friends  to  procure  a  Vote  of  the  Assembly,  approving  the  Action  of  the 
Congress. — His  Amendments  to  Obsequious  Resolutions  of  the  Assembly. — 
Final  Adjournment  of  the  Assembly. — Revolutionary  Movements  in  New 
York  and  Boston.— Blindness  of  the  British  Parliament. —  Gage  sends 
Troops  from  Boston  to  seize  Arms  and  Stores. — Skirmishes  at  Lexington  and 
Concord. — The  War  for  Independence  begun 2S5 

CHAPTER     XVIII. 

The  People  in  Convention,  in  New  York,  appoint  Delegates  to  the  Conti- 
nental Congress. — Colonel  Schuyler  in  the  Convention. — He  is  chosen  a  Re- 
presentative in  the  Congress — At  Saratoga  when  the  News  of  the  Affair 
at  Lexington  and  Concord  reached  him. — His  Letter  to  John  Cruger. — The 
Affection  and  Confidence  of  his  Neighbors.— New  York  Provincial  Con- 
gress.—Revolutionary  Movements  in  all  the  Oolonies.— Seizure  of  Ticon- 
deroga  and  crown  point  by  the  republicans. — the  g  reen  mountain  boy8. — 
Bad  Conduct  of  Benedict  Arnold. — The  Second  Continental  Congress. — 
Colonel  Schuyler  in  that  Body. — Action  of  the  Congress. — Cautious  Pro- 
ceedings relative  to  the  Lake  Champlain  Forts. — Political  Aspect  of  New 
York. — Alliance  of  Canada  desired. — Schuyler  recommended  by  the  New 
York  Provincial  Congress  as  Major-General.  —  Plans  for  an  American 
Government 804 


CHAPTER      XIX. 

Lord  North's  Conciliatory  Bill  rejected  as  Deceptive. — War  Spirit  in  tub 
General  Congress,  and  among  the  People.— A  Republican  Army  at  Boston. — 
Confidence  of  the  British  Officers. — Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill. — Washing- 
ton appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Continental  Army. — Schuyler 
chosen  the  second  Major-General. — Emission  of  Paper  Money. — Schuyler 
accompanies  Washington  to  New  York. — Reception  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  there.  —  A  Dilemma. — Washington's  Instructions  to  Schuyler. — 
Schuyler  leaves  his  General  atNewRochelle — He  enters  upon  his  Duties 
as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Northern  Department. — The  Canadians  ap- 
pealed to. — Proposition  to  Invade  Canada  rejected. — Operations  on  Lake 
Champlain. — Connecticut  Troops  sent  to  Lake  Champlain. — Operations  of 
Benedict  Arnold. — Allen  in  the  New  York  Assembly.— Preparations  to 
Invade  Canada 828 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER     XX. 

PAGB 

SCHUYLER  LEAVES  NkW  YORK  FOR  THE  NORTH. — HlS  LETTER  TO  GENERAL  WOOSTER 

on  that  oooasion. — schuyler's  pltblic  reception  at  a  lb  ant. — the  future 
Dark  and  Unpromising. — Bad  Influence  of  the  Johnson  Family  over  the 
Indians. — The  Indians  Uneasy. — Unhappy  Stateof  Affairs  atTiconderoga. — 
The  quarrelsome  Benedict  Arnold  the  chief  Cause  of  Trouble  there. — He 
leaves  the  lake  in  anger. — startling  intelligence  from  the  mohawk 
Valley. — Gut  Johnson  among  the  Indians. — His  Letter  to  the  New  York 
Provincial  Congress. — Commissioners  for  Indian  Affairs  appointed  by  the 
Continental  Congress.— Schuyler  at  the  Head  of  it. — Indians  employed  by 
the  British. — Schuyler's  Labors  and  Responsibilities. — Washington  Sympa- 
thizes with  Him. — Organization  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.— Allen  Re- 
pudiated BY  THEM,  AND  ACTS  A8   A  VOLUNTEER. MAJOR    BrOWN    EMPLOYED    AS  A 

Scout  in  Canada 34? 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

Scarcity  of  Provisions  in  the  Northern  Army. — Schuyler's  Efforts  to  produce 
Supplies. — Jealousies  among  the  Troops.  —  Schuyler's  trouble  with  the 
Commissaries. — He  Rebukes  them  Severely. — Schuyler  as  a  Military  Com- 
mander.—Cause  of  Ill-will  toward  Him. — Intelligence  from  Canada  makes 
Schuyler  Impatient  to  move  forward. — Difficulty  in  raising  Men  for  the 
Service. — New  York  Troops. — Dr.  Franklin  sends  Powder  to  Schuyler. — 
Arnold  proposed  as  Adjutant-General  of  the  Notuern  Army. — Letters  of 
Duer  and  Deane  on  the  Subject. — Deane's  Appeal  in  Behalf  of  Arnold. ... 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

Schuyler  at  a  Council  with  the  Indians  at  Albany. — General  Montgomery 
left  in  Command  of  the  Northern  Army. — Movements  of  the  Indians. — The 
Conference. — Address  of  the  Continental  Congress  to  the  Indians. — Results 
of  the  Council. — Troubles  in  the  Mohawk  Valley. — Sir  John  Johnson  and 
his  Influence. — Sheriff  White.— Schuyler  hastens  to  Ticonderoga.— Mont- 
gomery M0VE8  DOWN  THE  LAKE  WITH  A  PART  OF  THE  ARMY. — CHARACTER  OF  MONT- 
GOMERY.— Schuyler  is  taken  Sick. — Difficulty  with  the  Indians  settled. — 
He  overtakes  the  Army  at  Isle  la  Motte. — Schuyler's  Address  to  the  Cana- 
dians.— Allen  and  Brown  sent  among  the  Canadians  with  it 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

The  Army  at  Isle  aux  Noix.— Preparations  to  attack  St.  John's.— The  Troops 
move  forward. — a  skirmish. — false  information  given  to  schuyler. — tlik 
Army  withdraws  to  Isle  aux  Noix. — Anxiety  of  the  Continental  Congress 
for  the  Invasion  of  Canada.— Public  and  Private  Letters  to  Schuyler.— 
The  Troops  again  sent  forward  to  Attack  St.  John's.— Schuyler  extremely 
III. — Bad  Conduct  of  some  of  the  Troops. — Return  to  Isle  aux  Noix. — 
Schuyler  compelled  to  Return  to  Ticonderoga. — His  timely-  Services  there 
save  the  Army. — Montgomery  besieges  St.  John's. — Insubordination  of  the 
Troops 408 


C  O  NTENTS,  IV 


CHAPTER     XXIV. 

PAOS 

Attempt  to  Capture  Montreal. — Colonel  Allen  made  a  Prisoner  and  sent  to 
England. — His  Boldness  before  his  Captors. — Inhumanly  treated  by  the 
British. — His  Imprudence  caused  Difficulties.— Montgomery  Distressed  by 
the  Bad  Conduct  of  his  Troops. — II is  generous  Loyalty  to  his  Country. — 
Schuyler  seriously  III  at  Ticonderoga. — He  is  Distressed  by  the  Conduct 
of  the  Troops  there. — The  Fidelity  of  Schuyler  and  Montgomery. — A  Decep- 
tive Treaty. — Capture  of  Chambi.ee. — First  Colors  taken  in  the  War,  sent 
to  the  Continental  Congress,  by  Schuyler 411 


CHATTER      XXV. 

The  Seige  of  St.  John's  pressed  Vigorously. — Schuyler  has  unpleasant  Expe- 
riences  with  Wooster. — He   is  Warned  of  coming  Trouble. — The   Congress 

AWARE    OF    IT,    TAKE    MEASURES    ACCORDINGLY.  — LETTER    OF    Mil.     BEDFORD.— BAD 

Conduct  of  some  of  Wooster's  Troops  at  Ticonderoga. — Wooster  courteously 

received  by  schuyler.  hls  satisfactory   declarations    to    schuyler. 

Wooster's  Conduct  not  in  accordance  with  his  Professions. — Correspon- 
dence.— Action  of  the  Connecticut  Assembly. — Schuyler  tortured  by  Disease 
and  Disappointment. — An  Injudicious  Letter. — Wooster  joins  Montgomery. — 
The  British  repulsed  at  two  Points  on  the  St.  Lawrence. — St.  John's  Sur- 
renders to  Montgomery-. — The  Spoils  of  Vict  ry 483 


CHAPTER      XXVI. 

Arnold's  Expedition  to  Quebec  through  the  Wilderness. — His  Ambttion  grati- 
fied by  his  Appointment  to  the  Command  of  it. — His  Instructions  from  Wash- 
ington.— Incidents  of  the  Expedition. —  Arrival  at  the  French  Settle- 
ments.— The  Expedition  opposite  Quebec. — Alarm  of  the  Town  and  Garri- 
son.— Montgomery  marches  upon  Montreal. — Reluctance  of  his  Troops  to 
go. — Carleton  Abandons  the  Town  and  flees  to  Quebec. — Montgomery  takes 
Possession  of  Montreal. — II is  Welcome  Reception. — Carleton's  Flotilla 
Captured. — Escape  of  Carleton. — Montgomery  anxiously  desires  to  proceed 
to  Quebec 448 


CHAPTER      XXVII. 

New  England  Troops  refuse  to  go  to  Quebec. — Great  Homesickness  among 
them. — Large  Numbers  Discharged  by  Schuyler  at  Ticonderoga. — Washing- 
ton's Trouble  with  his  Troops  at  Boston. — Schuyler's  Rebuke  of  Inhu- 
manity.— Montgomery  distressed  by  Insubordination. — A  Turbulent  and 
Mutinous  Spirit  in  the  Army. — Dilatokiousness  of  the  Congress. — Mont- 
gomery resolves  to  Leave  the  Army  at  the  Close  of  the  Campaign. — 
Schuyler's  continued  III  Health.— He  Returns  to  Albany.— Conference 
with  some  Indians  tiieee. — A  Glance  at  Schuyler's  Services  — His  Justice 
and  Truthfulness. — General  Wooster's  Inefficency  suspected.— Schuyler 
desires  to  Retire  from  the  Service. — Congress  and  Washington  Appeal  to 
Him. — He  Consents  to  Remain. 465 


TV1  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER     XXVIII. 

PAOB 

Jot  because  of  Montgomery's  Successes. — His  Need  and  Lack  of  Supplies. — 11k 
assumes  Responsibilities  for  the  Good  of  the  Service.— Arnold  crosses  tub 
St.  Lawrence  and  appears  before  Quebec. — His  Operations  before  the 
City. — Demand  for  Surrender,  treated  with  Contempt. — He  withdraws  to 
Point  aux  Trembles.— Montgomery  leaves  Montreal  for  Quebec. — His  Plans 
for  Conquest. — He  joins  Arnold  at  Point  aux  Trembles,  and  Clothes  and 
Addresses  his  Troops. — The  combined  Forces  before  Quebec. — Montgomery's 
Flag  of  Truce,  fired  upon. — His  Indignation. — Prepares  for  an  Assault. — 
Carleton  would  hold  no  Communication  with  Him. — An  Ice  Battery  con- 
structed and  Demolished. — Trouble  among  Arnold's  Officers. — Success  of 
the  Expedition  thereby  perilled. — Hard  Money  Needed. — Futile  Efforts  in 
the  Recruiting  Service 4T3 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 

Montgomery  surrounded  with  Difficulties. — Lays  a  Plan  of  Attack  before 
a  Council  of  Officers. — Difficulties  with  some  of  Arnold's  Officers. — Mont- 
gomery's last  Letter  to  Schuyler. — Plan  of  Attack  agreed  upon. — Attempts 
to  carry  it  into  effect. — tlie  altmy  in  two  divisions. — montgomery  leads 

ONE  ALONG   THE   St.  La  WHENCE. — HlS   HOPEFULNESS   AND   BRAVERY.— HlS   DEATH 

and  Repulse  of  His  Troops. — McPherson  and  Cheesman. — Arnold  leads  the 
other  Division. —  He  is  Wounded. —  Morgan  in  Command. —  Desperate  En- 
counter.— Capture  of  Dearborn. — The  Americans  made  Prisoners. — Dispo- 
sition of  the  Troops. — Effects  of  Montgomery's  Death. — Proceedings  in  Ee- 
I^ation  to  It.— Scene  in  the  British  Parliament 493 


LIFE    AND     TIMES 


OF 


PHILIP    SCHUYLER 


CHAPTER  I. 

About  thirty  years  after  Albany,  the  capital  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  was  founded  by  the  erection  of  Fort 
Orange  upon  its  site,  and  half  that  length  of  time  before 
the  English  conquest  gave  new  masters  to  the  province  and 
new  names  to  the  principal  settlements,  a  serious  disturb- 
ance occurred  in  the  little  village  that  had  grown  up  along 
the  bank  of  the  Hudson,  near  that  earliest  regular  fortifi- 
cation erected  by  the  Dutch  in  America.  At  that  time, 
Beverwyck,*  as  the  village  around  Fort  Orange  was  called, 
contained  about  one  hundred  houses,  seated  along  a  single 
street  in  regular  line,  with  gardens  between,  and  here  and 
there  a  stray  one  upon  the  slope  whereon  broad  State  street 
now  reposes.  Around  these,  in  a  figure  of  septangular 
form,  were  palisades  for  defense  against  the  savages  or  other 
foes  ;  and  in  due  time  several  minor  fortifications,  holding 
allegiance  to  Fort  Orange,  were  interlinked  by  these  de- 
fenses. 

*The  Mohegan  name  of  Albany  was  Pem-po-ta-wuth-ut,  or   "place  of 
fire" — a  council  ground. 


18  -,    •  i  t.  ;P  5  1 1*  I;?  ;  S  £  £rj  Y  L  E  K  .  [1647. 

North  of  Albany  was  the  seat  of  the  Patroon  of  Kens- 
selaerwyck,  called  the  Colo?iie,  where  the  representatives  of 
the  lord  of  that  superb  manor  that  stretched  along  the 
Mauritius,  as  the  Hudson  river  was  then  called,  north  and 
south,  east  and  west  from  Fort  Orange,  over  an  area  of  al- 
most a  thousand  square  miles,  assumed  an  independence  of 
the  servants  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  by  whom 
the  purchase  of  this  large  domain  from  the  Indians  had 
been  confirmed.*  That  assumed  independence,  and  the 
petty  tyranny  of  the  Commissary,  as  the  commander  of 
Fort  Orange  was  called,  became,  in  the  course  of  time, 
productive  of  bitter  blood. 

Killian  Van  Kensselaer,  the  first  Patroon,  and  lord  of 
this  manor,  never  came  to  America.  Johannes,  his  son  and 
heir,  likewise  never  saw  the  noble  domain  of  which  he  was 
proprietor.  The  management  of  the  great  estate  was  en- 
trusted to  agents.  When  Killian  died,  Johannes  was  a 
minor,  and  his  uncle,  Van  Wyley,  and  Wouter  Van  T wil- 
ier, who  had  been  to  America  previously  to  examine  the 
lands  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Orange,  became  his 
guardians.  Brant  Arent  Van  Slechtenhorst,  of  Niewkerke, 
in  Guilderland,  was  commissioned  Director  of  the  Colonie, 
President  of  the  Court  of  Justice,  and  immediate  manager 
of  the  whole  estate  of  the  Patroon.  He  came  over  with  his 
family  in  1647,  the  same  year  when  Peter  Stuyvesant  ar- 
rived at  New  Amsterdam  as  governor  or  director-general 
of  the  province.     Being  an  energetic  man,  full  of  loyalty 

*  For  the  purpose  of  encouraging  emigration  to  New  Netherland,  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company  offered,  in  1620,  large  tracts  of  land  and  certain 
privileges  to  those  persons  who  should  lead  or  send  a  given  number  of  emi- 
grants to  occupy  and  till  the  soil.  The  land  was  to  be  fairly  purchased  of  the 
Indians,  and  the  title  was  to  be  confirmed  by  the  Company.  The  proprietors 
were  called  patroons,  (patrons,)  and  held  a  high  political  and  social  station  in 
the  New  World. 


1650.]  HEADSTRONG     DUTCHMEN.  19 

to  his  young  master,  and  inspired  with  that  Dutch  spirit 
of  independence  that  was  born  centuries  before  among 
the  Batavian  marshes,  he  became  a  practical  rival  in  au- 
thority, not  only  of  the  Commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  but 
of  Stuyvesant  himself. 

From  the  first  attempt  to  plant  patroon  colonies  in 
New  Netherland,  the  directors  of  the  Amsterdam  chamber 
of  the  West  India  Company  had  been  jealous  of  them, 
and  Stuyvesant,  and  his  immediate  predecessors  in  office, 
used  every  fair  means  to  wipe  out  those  already  in  exist- 
ence. Two  of  them  were  purchased  of  the  grantees,  but 
neither  money,  threats,  nor  persuasions  could  induce  the 
proprietors  of  Eensselaerwyck  to  relinquish  that  princely 
estate.  The  company  therefore  determined  to  weaken  a 
power  which  they  could  not  suppress  by  purchase,  and 
Governor  Stuyvesant  and  Commissioner  Van  Slechten- 
horst  became  obstinate  champions  of  rival  interests.  The 
former  claimed  general  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  province; 
the  latter  acknowledged  no  authority  within  the  domains 
of  Eensselaerwyck  outside  of  Fort  Orange,  except  that  of 
the  Patroon  himself. 

For  three  years  the  quarrel  went  on,  when  a  call  for  a 
subsidy  from  Eensselaerwyck,  made  by  Governor  Stuyves- 
ant, produced  a  crisis.  Commissioner  Van  Slechtenhorst 
went  to  New  Amsterdam  to  remonstrate  with  the  gov- 
ernor. Both  were  equally  unyielding,  and  high  words  en- 
sued at  their  separation.  As  it  was  the  custom  of  Peter 
the  Headstrong  to  use  the  logic  of  physical  force  against 
an  opponent  when  oral  argument  failed,  he  caused  Van 
Slechtenhorst  to  be  visited  that  day,  before  he  had  finished 
his  dinner,  by  an  officer  charged  to  bring  him  before  the 
director-general  and  council.  By  these  he  was  imme- 
diately condemned  as  an  unruly  subject,  and  when  he  asked 


20  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1652. 

11  Can  a  man  be  condemned  unheard  ?"  he  was  answered 
by  an  arrest.  He  was  detained  four  months  on  Manhattan 
Island,  when  he  escaped  in  a  sloop  and  returned  to  the 
Colonie.  At  about  that  time  Jean  Baptiste  Van  Kens- 
selaer,  the  first  of  that  name  who  came  to  America, 
appeared  at  Beverwyck,  and  was  elected  one  of  the  mag- 
istrates. Very  soon  after  this,  an  order  was  issued,  requir- 
ing all  the  freemen  and  other  inhabitants  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Patroon  and  his  representative. 

The  disturbance  alluded  to  now  occurred.  On  New 
Year's  night,  1652,  some  soldiers,  armed  with  match-locks, 
issued  from  the  fort  and  fired  several  shots  at  the  Patroon' 8 
house.  The  reed-covered  roof  was  ignited  by  the  burning 
gun-wads,  and  for  a  while  the  mansion  was  in  imminent 
peril.  Hard  words  passed  between  the  soldiers  and  the 
friends  of  the  Patroon;  and  on  the  following  day  a  son  of 
Commissioner  Van  Slechtenhorst  was  assailed  in  the  street 
by  some  of  the  former,  badly  beaten,  and  dragged  through 
the  mud,  while  Johannes  Dyckman,  the  West  India  Com- 
pany's commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  stood  by  and  encour- 
aged them,  saying,  "  Let  him  have  it  now,  and  the  devil 
take  him  !"  Young  Van  Slechtenhorst  found  a  champion  in 
Philip  Pietersen  Schuyler,  a  spirited  young  gentleman  from 
Amsterdam,  who,  a  little  more  than  a  year  before  had  mar- 
ried the  victim's  sister  Margaret.  Young  Schuyler  endeav- 
ored to  save  his  brother-in-law,  when  Dyckman  drew  his 
sword  and  threatened  to  run  him  through.  A  general  fracas 
ensued,  but  ended  without  serious  bloodshed. 

Here  we  will  leave  the  actors  in  this  quarrel,  the  events 
and  results  of  which  are  recorded  in  history.  Nor  will  we 
further  display  the  chronicles  of  the  manor  and  of  the 
province.  The  curtain  has  been  thus  slightly  lifted  from 
the  interesting  picture  of  the  past,  that  a  glimpse  might 


1650.]  FIRST     SCHUYLER     IN     AMERICA.  21 

be  had  of  the  first  of  the  Schuyler  family  who  appeared  in 
America,  the  lineal  ancestor  of  the  one  whose  character 
and  services  will  be  portrayed  in  the  pages  that  follow. 

Of  the  antecedents  of  Philip  Pietersen  Schuyler,  who 
first  appears  in  history  in  the  famous  quarrel  at  Bever- 
wyck,  we  have  no  positive  knowledge.  We  only  know  that 
he  came  to  the  New  World  from  Amsterdam,  in  Holland, 
in  the  year  1650.  Tradition  says  that  his  family  were  mer- 
chants in  that  old  city,  were  connected  with  the  West  In- 
dia Company,  and  had  a  country  seat  near  Dordrecht. 
Ancient  pieces  of  silver  plate,  with  the  family  arms""'  and 
year  marks  engraved  on  them,  yet  in  possession  of  some  of 
the  descendants  of  Van  Slechtenhorst's  son-in-law,  attest 
the  opulence  of  the  family  previous  to  the  appearance  of 
Philip  Pietersen  in  America. 

The  marriage  of  young  Schuyler  and  Margaret  Van 
Slechtenhorst  was  celebrated  at  Rensselaerwyck  on  the 
12th  of  December,  1650.  The  nuptial  rites  were  performed 
by  Anthony  de  Hooges,  the  Secretary  of  the  Colonie,  in 
the  presence  of  the  officers  of  Fort  Orange,  the  magnates 
of  Rensselaerwyck,  and  of  some  of  the  principal  inhabi- 
tants. These  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Schuyler  family  in 
America. 

*  The  arms  of  the  Schuyler  family  are  as  follows:  Escutcheon'  argent,  a 
falcon  sable,  hooded  gules,  beaked  and  membered  or,  perched  upon  the  sinis- 
ter hand  of  the  falconer,  issued  from  the  dexter  side  of  the  shield.  The  arm 
clothed  azure,  surmounted  by  a  helmet  of  steel,  standing  in  profile,  open- 
faced,  three  bars  or,  lined  gules,  bordered,  flowered  and  studded  or,  and  orna- 
mented with  its  lambrequins  argent  lined  sable.  Crest — out  of  a  wreath, 
argent  and  sable,  a  falcon  of  the  shield. 

In  the  original  genealogical  record  of  the  family  in  the  Dutch  language, 
the  name  of  the  first  emigrant,  who  arrived  in  1650,  is  written  Philip  Pieter- 
sen  Von  Schuyler,  which  may  be  translated  Philip,  son  of  Peter,  from  Schuy- 
ler. No  doubt  the  latter  was  the  name  of  the  place  where  the  family  resided, 
and  had  been  recently  adopted  as  a  surname,  as  it  is  not  found  as  such 
in  the  records  of  Holland  at  that  time. 


22  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1690 

Margaret  Van  Slechtenhorst  was  two-and-twenty  years 
of  age  when  she  married  young  Schuyler,  and  ten  children 
were  the  fruitful  results  of  their  union.*  She  lived  sixty 
years  after  her  nuptials,  and  survived  her  husband  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  She  possessed  great  energy  of 
character  and  independence  of  spirit,  like  her  father  ;  and 
after  her  husband's  death  her  wealth  and  position  enabled 
her  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  in  public  affairs  at  Al- 
bany. In  1689  she  advanced  funds  to  pay  troops  at  Albany; 
and  it  is  asserted  that  toward  the  close  of  that  year  she 
made  a  personal  assault  upon  Milborne,  the  son-in-law  of 
Jacob  Leisler,  (the  usurper,  as  he  was  called,  of  political 
power  at  New  York,)  when  he  came  to  Albany  to  assume 
command  of  the  fort,  then  under  charge  of  her  second  son 
Peter,  the  eminent  mayor  of  that  city,  and  commander  of 
the  militia  in  the  northern  department  of  the  province. 

Peter  inherited  the  talents  and  virtues  of  his  parents, 
and  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in 
the  province.  He  was  mayor  of  Albany  from  1686  until 
1694,  and  was  the  first  chosen  chief  magistrate  of  that  city 
after  its  incorporation  in  1683,  the  year  before  his  father 
died.f  In  1688  he  was  commissioned  major  of  the  militia, 
and  toward  the  close  of  the  following  year  he  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  fort  at  Albany.  It  was  about  that 
time  that  Milborne  went  up  with  some  armed  men  to  take 
Schuyler's  place,  but  the  latter,  aided  by  some  Mohawk 

*  These  were  Guysbert,  Gertrude,  (who  married  Stophanus  Van  Cort- 
landt,)  Alida,  (who  married,  first,  Reverend  Nicholas  Van  Rensselaer,  and 
second,  Robert  Livingston,  the  first  lord  of  the  manor  of  Livingston,  on  the 
Hudson,)  Pieter,  Brant,  Arent,  Sybilla,  Philip,  Johannes,  and  Margretta. — 
From  Dutch  Genealogical  Manuscript,  translated  by  S.  Alofsen,  Eiq. 

\  Philip  Pietersen  Schuyler  died  on  the  9th  of  March,  1634,  and  was 
buried,  on  the  11th  of  the  same  month,  in  the  ancient  Dutch  Church  at  Al- 
bany, that  stood  in  the  center  of  State  street  at  the  intersection  of  Broadway. 
His  will  bears  date  "Tuesday  evening,  May  1,  1683." — Dutch  Manuscript. 


1G90.]     EXPEDITION    TO    THE    ST.    LAWRENCE.      23 

Indians  who  were  in  the  neighborhood,  successfully  resisted 
his  pretensions.  Over  the  Mohawks,  the  most  noble  of  the 
nations  of  the  Iroquois  confederation,  Peter  Schuyler  then 
had  almost  unbounded  control  ;  and  until  that  league  was 
broken,  and  the  nations  bad  dwindled  to  a  few  hundreds 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  at  tbe  close  of  tbe  last  century, 
the  Schuyler  family  bad  no  competitors  in  influence  and 
friendship  with  those  sons  of  the  forest  except  Sir  William 
Johnson.  They  always  treated  the  Indian  as  a  brother  and 
friend,  dealt  honorably  with  him,  and  never  deceived  him 
in  word  or  deed. 

John,  the  youngest  brother  of  Major  Schuyler,  was  an 
active  young  man  at  this  time  ;  athletic,  brave,  and  full  of 
military  aspirations.  He  was  the  paternal  grandfather  of 
General  Philip  Schuyler.  When,  in  February,  1690,  a 
party  of  French  and  Indians  came  from  the  north,  and  at 
midnight  set  fire  to  Schenectada,  and  butchered  the  unsus- 
pecting inhabitants,  the  vengeance  of  this  young  man  was 
powerfully  stirred,  and  he  sought  and  obtained  the-  com- 
mand of  a  small  force  of  white  people  and  Indians,  with 
which  to  penetrate  the  country  of  the  enemy  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  was  then  only  twenty- two 
years  of  age.  He  received  a  captain's  commission,  and  in 
August  he  set  out  "  with  twenty-nine  Christians,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  savages,"  whom  he  recruited  at  the 
foot  of  Lake  Champlain  "to  go  to  Canada  to  fight  the 
enemy."  They  went  down  the  Lake  in  canoes,  penetrated 
to  Laprairie,  destroyed  considerable  property,  took  quite  a 
number  of  prisoners,  and  returned  with  little  loss,  after  an 
absence  of  seventeen  days.  The  journal  of  this  expedition, 
kept  by  Captain  Schuyler,  reveals  the  fact  that  the  elk 
deer  were  very  abundant  in  northern  New  York  at  that 
time.     They  have  now  entirely  disappeared. 


24  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1710. 

In  June,  the  following  year,  Major  Peter  Schuyler  led 
a  small  force  into  Canada.  It  consisted  of  "  Christians, 
120;  Mohawques,  80;  R.  (River  or  Mohegan)  Indians, 
66."*  They  followed  the  route  taken  by  Captain  Schuy- 
er,  went  down  the  Sorel  or  Richelieu  to  the  rapids  above 
vjhambloe,  and  penetrated  to  Laprairie.  A  Mohawk  de- 
serter left  the  camp  near  Chamblee,  and  informed  the 
French  of  the  approach  of  the  invaders.  The  latter  were 
thus  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  former,  and  well 
defended  their  fort  at  Laprairie.  After  several  skirmishes, 
the  expedition  returned  to  Albany  toward  the  close  of  Au- 
gust, with  a  loss  of  nineteen  white  men  and  savages. 
"  Thought  by  all,"  says  Major  Schuyler,  in  his  journal, 
"  to  have  killed  about  two  hundred  French  and  Indians."f 

From  this  time  the  two  brothers  were  engaged  almost 
continually  in  public  life.  The  former  became  first  a  mem- 
ber, and  then  President  of  his  Majesty's  Council  for  the 
Province  of  New  York.  For  a  short  time  he  was  acting 
governor  of  the  colony,  and  for  many  years  he  was  chief 
commissioner  for  Indian  affairs.  In  1710  he  went  to  Eng- 
land with  four  Indian  chiefs,  who  were  representatives  of 
four  nations  that  composed  the  Iroquois  confederacy.  These, 
and  the  nations  they  represented,  were  much  attached  to 
Schuyler,  whom  they  familiarly  called  "  Brother  Queder." 
They  were  taken  to  Britain  for  a  twofold  purpose  :  First, 
to  have  these  heads  of  the  tribes  impressed  with  the  great- 
ness of  the  English  nation,  and  thereby  detach  the  waver- 
ing ones  from  the  French  interest ;  and,  Secondly,  to  arouse 
the  British  government  to  the  necessity  of  assisting  the 
Americans  in  expelling  the  French  from  Canada,  whose 

*  Major  Schuyler's  "Journal  of  the  Expedition." 

\  Colden,  in  his  "History  of  the  Five  Nations,"  says  the  French  lost  two 
captains,  six  lieutenants,  and  three  hundred  men. 


1713.]  AN     EMBASSY     TO     CANADA.  25 

hostility  to  the  English  colonists,  and  whose  influence  over 
the  savage  tribes  were  daily  increasing.  Colonel  Schuyler 
bore  an  address  to  Queen  Anne  from  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly of  New  York,  and  he  and  his  confederate  "  kings,"  as 
they  were  called,  were  treated  with  distinuished  honor.* 

Captain  John  Schuyler,  meanwhile,  was  serving  his 
country  faithfully  in  both  civil  and  military  employments. 
In  September,  1698,  Governor  Bellomont  sent  him  to  Can- 
ada with  a  message  to  Count  Frontenac,  respecting  the  de- 
signs of  the  latter  toward  the  Five  Nations  and  the  English. 
He  visited  Quebec  and  Montreal ;  "felt  the  pulse"  of  the 
Indians  on  his  journey  ;  made  careful  observations  of  the 
strength  and  condition  of  the  French,  and  gave  the  gov- 
ernor of  Canada  an  exalted  idea  of  the  great  military 
power  which  the  Earl  of  Bellomont  might  command — 
"  One  hundred  thousand  men,  rather  more  than  less,"  he 
said.  This  mission  was  successful,  and  in  May,  the  follow- 
ing year,  he  and  John  Bleecker  were  appointed  commis- 
sioners to  hold  a  general  council  with  the  Five  Nations  at 
Onondaga  Castle.  He  was  an  Indian  commissioner  for  a 
great  many  years,  and  his  name  appears  frequently  in  the 
colonial  records  of  the  period  between  1701  and  1730  as 
one  of  the  most  active  of  the  servants  of  the  government 
in  keeping  the  Iroquois  in  alliance  with  the  English.  He 
was  chosen  to  a  seat  in  the  Colonial  Assembly  in  1705,  and 
held  that  position  until  1713.  From  that  time  until  the 
kindling  of  our  old  war  for  independence,  the  name  of 
Schuyler  appears  almost  continually  among  those  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people  in  the  legislature  of  the 
province  of  New  York. 

Captain  John  Schuyler  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Staats, 

*  For  an  interesting  account  of  this  embassy,  see  Drake's  Book  of  the  In- 
dians. 

2 


26  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1733. 

widow  of  John  "Wendell,  in  April,  1695.  The  ceremony 
was  performed  by  Dominie  Dellius,  minister  of  the  Dutch 
Church  at  Albany.  In  that  church  they  were  buried,  the 
wife  in  1737.  and  the  husband  ten  years  afterward.  Their 
eldest  son,  John,  was  born  early  in  the  autumn  of  1697, 
and  was  baptized  on  the  31st  of  October,  when  Kobert 
Livingston,  Jacob  Staats,  (the  child's  uncles  by  marriage,) 
and  his  aunt,  Maria  Schuyler,  who  held  him  in  her  arms, 
were  the  sponsors.  Being  the  eldest  son,  he  was  heir- 
expectant  to  the  real  estate  of  his  father,  which,  before 
his  death,  became  large  in  amount,  he  having  purchased 
several  valuable  tracts  from  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of 
Albany,  and  in  the  Mohawk  country. 

This  son  of  the  active  Captain  Schuyler  does  not  ap- 
pear prominent  in  history.  He  married  his  cousin  Cornelia, 
youngest  child  of  Stephen  Van  Cortlandt,  of  New  York, 
by  whom  he  had  reasonable  expectations  of  considerable 
wealth,  that  aristocratic  Dutch  family  then  ranking  among 
the  most  opulent  in  the  province.  He  appears  to  have 
lived  the  quiet  life  of  a  gentleman  of  leisure.  He  died  in 
1741,  six  years  before  his  father's  death,  and  was  buried  in 
the  little  family  cemetery  of  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler,  at 
The  Flats,  (now  Watervliet,)  as  the  place  of  that  gentle- 
man's residence  was  called.  He  left  five  small  children,  his 
eldest  son,  Philip,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  being  only 
eight  years  of  age.  Philip  was  born  at  the  family  man- 
sion in  Albany,  on  the  20th  of  November,  1733,  and,  like 
Dr.  Franklin,  was  baptized  on  the  day  of  his  birth. 


CHAPTER    II. 

At  the  period  of  Philip  Schuyler's  birth,  the  political 
and  social  aspect  of  the  province  of  New  York  was  pecu- 
liar and  interesting.  The  atmosphere  of  free  thought  and 
action,  composed  of  the  congenial  ingredients  of  the  spirit 
of  barbaric  life  in  the  neighboring  forests,  a  traditional  and 
inherent  hatred  of  oppression  and  undue  restraint,  and  a 
sense  of  equality  of  condition  that  had  for  a. hundred  years 
more  and  more  distinguished  the  inhabitants  of  the  prov- 
ince, nurtured  into  strength  and  activity,  in  his  youth  and 
early  manhood,  those  physical  and  mental  qualities  which 
gave  him  preeminence  during  a  long  and  eventful  life. 

Democracy  in  its  broadest  and  purest  sense — -the  idea 
of  civil  government  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  people — 
found  in  the  province  of  New  York  a  most  congenial  soil 
for  its  germination,  efflorescence  and  fruitage.  The  seed 
was  wafted  across  the  Atlantic  by  gales  of  persecution, 
from  almost  every  land  in  western  Europe,  where  the 
rights  of  conscience  had  been  assailed — where  the  sancti- 
ties of  private  life  and  the  shrine  of  the  spirit  had  been  in- 
vaded. These  found  lodgment  and  took  root  upon  the 
shores  of  the  broad  and  beautiful  bay  of  New  York,  (then 
New  Amsterdam,)  while  Dutch  power,  tempered  with  that 
divine  toleration  which  had  made  Holland  an  asylum  for 
the  persecuted,  bore  rule  in  New  Netherland. 

And  when  the  wicked  Kieft,  in  his  perplexity  and  fear, 
unintentionally  called  the  elements  of  representative  gov- 


28  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1733 

ernment  into  actual  activity  by  asking  the  heads  of  twelve 
families  to  sit  in  council  with  him  concerning  a  war  with 
the  Indians,  which  his  unrighteousness  had  provoked,  the 
inhabitants  of  that  province  presented  a  truly  sublime 
spectacle.  The  Hollanders  and  Swedes  upon  Manhattan 
and  in  Nova  CiBsarea,  the  Waldenses  upon  Staten  Island, 
and  the  Walloons  and  English  upon  Long  Island,  who  had 
found  in  these  forest  regions  a  sure  refuge  from  persecu- 
tion, lived  in  harmony  and  sweet  accord,  unmindful  of  the 
diversity  of  creeds  that  shaj)ed  the  forms  of  their  worship 
of  Almighty  God.  From  the  vineyards  of  France,  from 
the  sunny  valleys  of  Piedmont,  from  the  picturesque  banks 
of  the  Khine,  from  stormy  England — stormy  in  fact  and 
figure — and  from  the  sterile  soil  and  intolerant  spirit  of  the 
"SiigRlft  land  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  refugees 
soon  came,  and  the  wise  and  generous  Hollanders  who  held 
the  sceptre  of  governmental  power  gave  all  a  hearty  wel- 
come, nor  questioned  them  concerning  the  secrets  between 
man  and  his  Maker.  "  The  government  favored  no  curious 
inquiry  into  the  faith  of  any  man,"  but  considered  that  an 
expressed  desire  for  citizenship  implied  a  willingness  to 
take  a  solemn  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  commonwealth,  and 
that  oath  was  the  only  test.  When  it  was  once  taken,  the 
allegiance  carried  with  it  all  the  sanctions  of  a  sacrament ; 
and  citizenship,  as  in  some  other  colonial  communities,  did 
not  rest  chiefly  nor  at  al7.  upon  particular  church  member- 
ship. 

Such  was  the  broad  bas3  upon  which  rested  a  commer- 
cial and  cosmopolitan  republic  in  the  New  World,  seated 
at  the  open  door  to  a  vast  inland  trade  and  future  civiliza- 
tion ;  while  another  republic,  greater  in  numerical  strength, 
physical  force,  and  breadth  of  domain  and  influence  flour- 
ished deep  in  the  interior.    That  republic  was  the  Iroquois 


1733/1  THE     IROQUOIS     CONFEDERACY.  29 

confederacy  of  five  nations  of  Indians,  whose  origin  must 
be  sought  among  the  primitive  people  of  the  earth,  and 
whose  league  was  formed  long  before  Cavalier  and  Puritan, 
Hollander  and  Huguenot,  inspired  the  free  air  of  the  west- 
ern continent.  They  called  themselves  Aquanuschioni — - 
"  united  people,"  and  they  claimed  to  have  sprung  from 
the  soil  on  which  they  dwelt,  like  the  trees  of  the  wilder- 
ness. * 

With  these  people  the  early  settlers  of  New  Nether- 
land,  and  for  a  hundred  years  the  Schuyler  family  in  par- 
ticular, had  much  to  do  as  traders  in  peace,  and  as  allies  or 
as  enemies  in  war.  In  their  political  arrangements  they 
exhibited  features  in  common  with  the  Hollanders.  Their 
confederacy  was  composed  of  separate  independent  com- 
munities, having  distinct  municipal  laws,  like  the  United 
Provinces  of  Holland,  and  no  one  nation  held  a  preeminent 
position  in  the  constitution  of  the  league.  They  were 
originally  five  republics,  confederated  for  mutual  defense 
and  conquest,  and  they  were  known  as  the  Five  Nations 
until  they  were  joined  by  the  Tuscaroras,  a  community  of 
Southern  Iroquois,  who  were  expelled  from  the  Carolinas 
early  in  the  last  century.  Then  they  became  the  Six  Na- 
tions, whose  history  is  closely  interwoven  with  that  of 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  for  three  quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury. They  were  called  respectively  Mohawks,.  Oneidas, 
Onondagas,  Cayugas,  Senecas  and  Tuscaroras;  and  each  na- 
tion was  divided  into  three  tribes,  distinguished  by  separate 

*  Iroquois  is  a  purely  French  word,  composed,  however,  of  the  Indian 
expressions  Hiro  and  Kone.  The  former,  signifying  "  I  have  said  it,"  was 
used  at  the  close  of  every  speech  made  by  the  Indians  to  the  discoverers  of 
the  St.  Lawrence;  the  latter  expresses  the  sound  of  a  cry  of  joy  or  other 
emotion.  So  the  French  called  these  tribes  with  whom  they  became  first  ac- 
quainted Hiro-Kone,  and  the  name  was  written  Iroquois. — Cha?levoix. 


30  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1733. 

totems,  or  heraldic  insignia  representing  the  animals  after 
which  the  separate  families  were  named. 

The  Six  Nations  fancifully  called  their  confederacy 
the  Long  House.  The  eastern  door  was  kept  by  the  Mo- 
hawks, the  western  by  the  Senecas,  and  the  great  council 
fire  was  with  the  Onondagas,  at  the  federal  metropolis  or 
chief  village,  near  the  present  city  of  Syracuse.  Each 
tribe  was  governed  by  its  own  sachem  or  civil  head,  whose 
position  and  authority  depended  wholly  upon  his  ability 
and  faithfulness,  in  the  opinion  of  his  people.  They  were 
warlike,  and  yet  agriculture  was  so  extensively  practiced, 
especially  among  the  Senecas,  that  the  confederacy  was 
sometimes  called  Konoshioni — "  cabin  builders."  They  had 
a  war-path  along  the  borders  of  the  Alleghany  mountains, 
and  by  this  they  made  military  excursions  to  the  distant 
domains  of  the  Catawbas  and  Cherokees,  in  the  beautiful 
upper  country  of  the  South,  and  caused  the  fierce  Shawnees 
of  the  Ohio  valley  to  tremble.  They  made  hostile  expedi- 
tions against  the  New  England  Indians  on  the  east,  and  the 
Eries,  Andastes,  and  Miamis  on  the  West ;  and  when  the 
Dutch  began  the  settlement  of  New  Netherland,  all  the 
Indians  on  Long  Island  and  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Sound,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  Hudson, 
Delaware  and  Susquehanna  rivers,  were  tributaries  and  in 
subjection  to  the  Five  Nations.  At  the  same  time  they  in- 
habited villages,  cultivated  extensive  fields  and  orchards, 
and  traded  far  and  near  with  the  French  and  English. 

The  Iroquois  possessed  an  exalted  spirit  of  liberty,  and 
they  spurned  with  disdain  every  foreign  or  domestic  shackle 
of  control.  Almost  a  hundred  years  before  Jefferson  wrote 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Garangula,  a  venerable 
Onondaga  sachem,  said  to  the  governor-general  of  Canada, 
who  had  or  naced  the  league  with  distraction,  "  We  are 


1686.]  CHARTER     OF     LIBERTIES.  31 

born  free.  We  neither  depend  on  Yonondio  nor  Oorlear. 
We  may  go  where  we  please,  and  carry  with  us  whom  we 
please,  and  buy  and  sell  ivhat  we  please."  * 

Such  were  the  people  with  whom  the.  Dutch  settlers  in 
the  interior  of  New  Netherland  were  brought  into  imme- 
diate contact;  and  from  the  hour  when  the  latter  established 
a  trading  house  at  Albany,  or  Beverwyck,  to  the  close  of 
the  old  war  for  independence,  the  Six  Nations  occupy  a 
large  space  in  the  history  of  the  province.  And  from  the 
reign  of  William  and  Mary  until  far  into  that  of  George 
the  Third,  the  name  of  Schuyler  appears  prominent  among 
Indian  commissioners,  for  that  family  were  peerless  in  their 
influence  over  the  dusky  tribes  of  New  York,  except  when 
Sir  William  Johnson  ruled  like  a  nabob  in  the  Mohawk 
valley. 

The  innate  love  of  freedom  possessed  by  the  Dutch, 
and  its  practical  illustrations  in  the  daily  life  of  the  Mo- 
hawks, who  held  continual  intercourse  with  the  settlers  at 
Albany,  made  the  idea  of  democracy  a  fixed  principle  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  those  settlers  and  their  posterity. 
For  twenty  years  after  the  change  from  Dutch  to  English 
rule  they  had  felt  the  unrelenting  heel  of  oppression.  Then 
they  were  made  glad  by  the  presentation  of  a  Charter  of 
Liberties,  by  the  liberal  minded  Dongan,  by  which  they 
were  allowed  to  adopt  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  establish  a 
representative  government,  and  fearlessly  assert  the  great 

*  Drake's  Booh  of  the  Indians.  Yonondio  was  the  name  they  gave  to 
the  governors  of  Canada ;  and  they  called  those  of  New  York  Corlear,  in 
honor  of  a  humane  Dutchman  of  that  name,  who  lived  at  Schenectada  and 
was  greatly  beloved  by  the  Mohawks.  Because  of  kind  services  rendered, 
the  governor  of  Canada  invited  him  to  his  capital.  On  his  way  Corlear  was 
drowned  in  Lake  Champlain.  For  a  long  time  the  Indians,  in  memory  of 
their  friend,  called  it  Corlear's  Lake,  and  in  their  speeches  and  treaties  desig- 
nated the  governor  of  New  York  by  the  title  of  "  Corlear." 


32  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1735. 

doctrine  of  the  Revolution,  that  led  to  independence  almost 
a  hundred  years  later,  that  taxation  and  representa- 
tion are  inseparable.  They  were  steadfast  in  their  sup- 
port of  the  principles  of  popular  sovereignty  represented 
by  Jacob  Leisler,  when  the  mongrel  aristocracy  of  New 
York  city  pursued  him  with  scorn,  malice  and  falsehood, 
and  murdered  him  upon  the  scaffold.  And  fi ve-and-forty 
years  later  there  was  great  joy  among  the  Dutch  through- 
out the  province  when,  two  years  after  Philip  Schuyler  was 
born,  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  vindicated  by  the  tri- 
umphant acquittal  of  John  Peter  Zenger,  the  publisher  of 
a  democratic  newspaper,  who  was  tried  for  a  libel  because 
he  had  spoken  the  truth  in  his  Journal  concerning  the 
English  governor  and  public  affairs. 

That  trial,  which  took  place  in  the  summer  of  1735, 
was  the  commencement  of  a  stormy  period  of  forty  years 
in  the  political  history  of  New  York,  during  which  time 
the  opposing  elements  of  democracy  and  aristocracy  con- 
tended vigorously  for  ascendancy  in  the  social  and  reli- 
gious life  of  the  province.  From  the  departure  of  Corn- 
bury  until  the  arrival  of  Colonel  Cosby,  in  1732,  the  royal 
representatives,  six  in  number,  unable  or  unwilling  to  resist 
the  will  of  the  people,  as  expressed  by  the  popular  assem- 
bly, allowed  democratic  principles  to  grow  and  flourish. 
When  Cosby  arrived  they  had  taken  deep  root  in  the  popu- 
lar heart,  for  Rip  Van  Dam,  an  honest  Dutch  merchant, 
"  the  man  of  the  people" — who  for  thirteen  months  after 
the  death  of  Montgomerie  had  been  acting  governor  of  the 
province,  by  virtue  of  his  senior  membership  in  the  coun- 
cil, encouraged  and  fostered  its  growth. 

Between  Van  Dam  and  Cosby  there  was  no  affinity, 
and  they  soon  quarreled.  Two  violent  parties  arose — as 
violent,  perhaps,  as  the  Liesler  and  anti-Leisler  parties— 


1Y35.J  FREEDOM     OF     THE     PRESS.  33 

namely,  the  Democratic,  which  sided  with  Van  Dam,  and 
the  Aristocratic,  which  supported  the  governor.  Each 
party  had  the  control  of  a  newspaper,  and  the  war  of 
words  raged  violently  for  a  long  time.  The  governor,  un- 
able to  compete  successfully  with  his  opponents,  ordered 
Zenger,  the  publisher  of  the  Democratic  paper,  to  be  ar- 
rested on  a  charge  of  libel.  He  was  cast  into  prison  and 
confined  there  for  thirty-five  weeks,  when  he  was  tried  by 
a  jury,  was  nobly  defended  by  the  eminent  Andrew  Ham- 
ilton of  Philadelphia,  and  was  acquitted. 

This  verdict  was  greeted  with  applause  by  a  great  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  and  the  magistrates  of  New  York 
presented  the  freedom  of  the  city,  in  a  gold  box,  to  Mr. 
Hamilton,  "for  his  learned  and  generous  defense  of  the 
rights  of  mankind  and  the  liberty  of  the  press."  Thus 
was  distinctly  drawn  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
Republicans  and  Loyalists — the  Whigs  and  Tories — in  the 
province  of  New  York,  which  appeared  prominent  until 
the  war  for  independence  was  closed  in  1783.  That  verdict 
gave  immense  strength  to  republican  principles,  not  only 
in  New  York,  but  throughout  the  Anglo-American  col- 
onies, for  sagacious  men  saw  in  the  liberty  of  the  press  the 
wings  of  free  thought  plumed  for  a  wide  and  glorious  flight. 
"  The  trial  of  Zenger  in  1735,"  said  Gouverneur  Morris  to 
Dr.  John  W.  Francis,  "  was  the  germ  of  American  freedom 
— the  morning  star  of  that  liberty  which  subsequently  revo- 
lutionized America." 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  contentions  of  these  political 
parties, -and  the  excitement  caused  by  the  hostile  attitude 
of  the  French  in  Canada  and  in  the  east,  that  the  youth  and 
early  manhood  of  Philip  Schuyler  were  passed ;  and  as  he 
belonged  to,  and  was  connected  by  blood  and  marriage  with 
most  of  the  wealthier  and  more  influential  families  in  the 

2* 


34  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1735. 

province,  he  must  have  been  early  impressed  by  the  current 
disputes  which  agitated  society,  and  stirred  by  desires  to 
participate  in  the  active  scenes  of  public  life. 

During  the  earlier  years  of  Philip  Schuyler's  life,  society 
at  Albany  was  favorable  to  the  development  of  every  good 
and  noble  quality  in  its  members.  It  was  more  purely 
Dutch  than  at  New  York,  and  had  not  yet  become  contam- 
inated by  the  presence  of  troops  and  the  general  introduction 
of  artificial  manners  and  extravagant  habits.  That  ancient 
town,  in  the  course  of  a  century,  had  gradually  expanded 
from  a  trading  post  and  hamlet  to  quite  a  stately  inland 
city  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  houses,  with  its  mayor,  and 
recorder,  and  aldermen,  and  representatives  in  the  colonial 
Legislature.  It  had  two  houses  of  worship,  one  in  which 
the  English,  and  the  other  the  Dutch  language  was  used. 
It  was  next  in  size  and  wealth  to  New  York,  then  contain- 
ing eight  times  as  many  buildings,  and  a  mixed  commercial 
population,  rapidly  increasing  in  wealth  and  importance. 

The  houses  in  Albany  were  very  neat  within  and  with- 
out. They  were  built  chiefly  of  stone  or  brick,  and  covered 
with  white  pine  shingles,  or  tiles  from  Holland.  Most  of 
them  had  terraced  gables  fronting  the  street,  with  gutters 
extending  from  the  eaves  beyond  the  side-walks  to  cany 
off  the  rain  water.  "  These,"  says  Kalm,  the  Swedish  na- 
turalist, who  visited  Albany  in  1748,  "preserve  the  walls 
from  being  damaged  by  the  rain  ;  but  it  is  extremely  dis- 
agreeable for  the  people  in  the  streets,  there  being  hardly 
any  means  of  avoiding  the  water  from  the  gutters."  On 
that  account  the  streets  were  almost  impassable  during  a 
storm  of  wind  and  rain. 

The  streets  were  broad,  and  some  of  them  were  paved, 
and  lined  with  shade  trees.  In  proportion  to  its  popula- 
tion, the  town  occupied  a  large  space  of  ground.     Every 


1735.]  DOMESTIC     LIFE     AT     ALBANY.  35 

house  had  its  garden  and  pleasant  grass  plat  in  the  rear, 
bearing  fruit  and  vegetables  in  abundance.  Before  every 
door  a  tree  was  planted,  which  was  often  interesting  as  a 
memento  of  the  birth  of  some  beloved  member  of  the 
family.  Some  of  these  had  now  reached  a  great  size,  and 
they  were  of  almost  every  variety  suitable  to  the  climate. 
These  formed  agreeable  shade  for  the  porches  or  "  stoops/' 
which  were  elevated  a  little  above  the  street  and  furnished 
with  spacious  seats.  "  It  was  in  these,"  says  Mrs.  Grant, 
of  Laggan,*  "that  each  domestic  group  was  seated  in 
summer  evenings  to  enjoy  the  balmy  twilight  or  the  se- 
renely clear  moonlight.  Each  family  had  a  cow,  fed  in  a 
common  pasture  at  the  end  of  the  town.  In  the  evening 
the  herd  returned  altogether,  of  their  own  accord,  with 
their  tinkling  bells  hung  at  their  necks,  along  the  wide  and 
grassy  street  to  their  wonted  sheltering  trees,  to  be  milked 
at  their  masters'  doors.  Nothing  could  be  more  pleasing 
to  a  simple  and  benevolent  mind  than  to  see  thus,  at  one 
view,  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  town,  which  contained  not 
one  very  rich  or  very  poor,  very  knowing  or  very  ignorant, 
very  rude  or  very  polished   individual — to  see  all  these 

*  Mrs.  Grant  was  the  daughter  of  Duncan  McYickar,  a  Scotch  officer  in 
the  British  army,  who  came  to  America  when  his  child  was  an  infant.  He 
remained  in  the  service  here  until  she  was  thirteen  years  of  age..  During  the  last 
years  of  their  residence  in  America,  she  was  much  among  the  Schuylers  and 
Van  Rensselaers  at  Albany  and  its  vicinity.  Every  thing  made  a  deep  im- 
pression on  her  mind,  and  under  the  title  of  " Memoirs  of  an  American 
Lady"  she  has  given  charming  sketches  of  society  at  Albany  before  the  Revo- 
lution. 

She  afterward  married  Mr.  Grant,  a  young  chaplain  in  the  army,  and  re- 
sided many  years  at  Laggan.  She  is  generally  known  as  "  Mrs.  Grant  of 
Laggan,"  to  distinguish  her  from  her  cotemporary,  Mrs.  Grant  of  Carron. 
Mrs.  Grant's  volume,  from  which  we  quote,  was  published  in  1808.  She  has 
fallen  into  many  errors  respecting  the  names  and  relationship  of  the  Schuyler 
family,  and  in  that  particular  her  book  is  wholly  unreliable.  But  her  sketches 
of  life  and  character  are  faithful. 


36  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1735. 

children  of  nature  enjoying  in  easy  indolence  or  social  in- 
tercourse, 

'The  cool,  the  fragrant,  and  the  dusky  hour,' 

clothed  in  the  plainest  habits,  and  with  minds  as  undis- 
guised and  artless.  These  primitive  beings  were  dispersed 
in  porches,  grouped  according  to  similarity  of  years  and 
inclinations.  At  one  door  were  young  matrons,  at  another 
the  elders  of  the  people,  at  a  third  the  youths  and  maidens, 
gayl}  chatting  or  singing  together,  while  the  children  played 
round  the  trees,  or  waited  by  the  cows  for  the  chief  ingre- 
dient of  their  frugal  supper,  which  they  generally  ate  sit- 
ting on  the  steps  in  the  open  air."* 

There  the  gossip  of  either  sex,  who  delights  in  retailing 
slander  or  idle  talk  from  house  to  house  was  unknown,  for 
intercourse  was  so  free,  and  open  hearted  friendship  so 
prevalent,  that  there  was  no  aliment  for  the  sustenance,  nor 
a  sphere  of  action  for  such  a  creature.  And  the  politician 
proper,  whose  dogmatism  is  so  offensive,  seldom  disturbed 
these  social  gatherings.  These,  even  so  late  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century,  took  their  pipes  and  chairs 
every  pleasant  afternoon,  and,  seating  themselves  in  the 
Market  House,  settled,  in  their  respective  opinions,  the 
nature  and  tendency  of  the  public  affairs  of  the  colony  and 
of  the  realm. 

In  Albany,  at  certain  times,  the  gayety  of  a  colonial 
court  would  appear.  That  was  when  the  governor  of  the 
province,  with  his  secretary  and  others,  ascended  the  Hud- 
son and  visited  the  city  to  hold  conferences  with  the  chiefs 
and  sachems  of  one  or  more  of  the  Six  Nations.  On  these 
occasions  the  Van  Rensselaers,  the  Schuylers,  the  Wessels, 
the  Tenbroecks,  the  Lansings,  the  Staats',  the  Bleeckers, 

*  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady. 


1735.]       INTERCOURSE     WITH     THE     INDIANS.    37 

the  Ten  Eycks,  and  other  leading  families,  kept  open  house, 
and  the  most  generous  hospitality  prevailed.  Balls,  parties, 
and  simple  amusements  of  every  kind  then  known,  were 
interspersed  with  the  proceedings  of  grave  conferences  with 
stately  savages,  while  the  governer  remained. 

There,  too,  at  the  close  of  the  hunting  season,  the  In- 
dians were  seen  coming  by  scores,  with  the  spoils  of  the 
forests  and  the  inland  waters  ;  for  at  that  time  there  was 
no  place  in  the  British  colonies,  except  the  Hudson's  Bay 
settlements,  where  such  quantities  of  furs  and  skins  were 
bought  of  the  Indians  as  at  Albany.  The  merchants  or 
their  clerks  spent  the  whole  summer  at  Oswego,  on  Lake 
Ontario,  the  chief  trading  place  in  the  Indian  country  ;  and 
the  dusky  hunters  and  trappers  would  frequently  come 
from  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  beyond,  laden 
with  beaver  skins  belonging  to  themselves  or  to  French 
traders,  notwithstanding  a  heavy  penalty  was  incurred  by 
carrying  furs  from  Canada  to  the  English  settlements. 
This  intercourse  between  vigorous,  sinewy,  barbaric  rude- 
ness, rugged  as  the  gnarled  oak,  and  a  beautiful,  simple 
civilization,  untouched  by  the  rheum  or  the  canker  of  lux- 
urious life,  acting  and  reacting  upon  each,  gave  strength 
and  force  to  one,  and  tenderness  and  polish  to  the  other, 
and  thus  worked  in  salutary  harmony. 

Notwithstanding  there  was  great  equality  in  Albany 
society,  there  was  a  peculiar  custom  prevalent  until  near 
the  time  of  the  kindling  of  the  Revolution,  which  appeared 
somewhat  exclusive  in  its  character.  The  young  people 
were  arranged  in  congenial  companies,  composed  of  an 
equal  number  of  both  sexes.  Children  from  five  to  eight 
years  of  age  were  admitted  into  these  companies,  and  the 
association  continued  until  maturity.  Each  company  was 
generally  under  a  sort  of  control  by  authority  lodged  in  tho 


38  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [H35. 

hands  of  a  boy  and  girl,  who  happened  to  possess  some 
natural  preeminence  in  size  or  ability.  They  met  fre- 
quently, enjoyed  amusements  together,  grew  up  to  matur- 
ity with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  each  other,  and  the  results, 
in  general,  were  happy  and  suitable  marriages.  In  the  sea- 
son of  early  flowers,  they  all  went  out  together  to  gather 
the  gaudy  blossoms  of  the  May  apple  ;  and  in  August  they 
went  together  to  the  forests  on  the  neighboring  hills  to 
gather  whortleberries,  or  later  still,  to  pluck  the  rich  clus- 
ters of  the  wild  grape,  each  being  furnished  with  a  light 
basket  made  by  the  expert  Indian  women. 

Each  member  of  a  company  was  permitted  to  entertain 
all  the  rest  on  his  or  her  birthday,  on  which  occasion  the 
elders  of  the  family  were  bound  to  be  absent,  leaving  only 
a  faithful  servant  to  have  a  general  supervision  of  affairs, 
and  to  prepare  the  entertainment.  This  gave  the  young 
people  entire  freedom,  and  they  enjoyed  it  to  the  fullest 
extent.  They  generally  met  at  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  separated  at  nine  or  ten  in  the  evening.  On 
these  occasions  there  would  be  ample  provisions  of  tea, 
chocolate,  fresh  and  preserved  fruits,  nuts,  cakes,  cider  and 
syllabub. 

These  early  and  exclusive  intimacies  naturally  ripened 
into  pure  and  lasting  friendships  and  affectionate  attach- 
ments, and  happy  marriages  resulted.  So  universal  was 
the  practice  of  forming  unions  for  life  among  the  members 
of  these  ciicles,  that  it  came  to  be  considered,  a  kind  of 
apostacy  to  marry  out  of  one's  "  company."  Love,  thus 
born  in  the  atmosphere  of  innocence  and  candor,  and  nour- 
ished by  similarity  of  education,  tastes,  and  aspirations, 
seldom  lost  any  of  its  vitality  ;  and  inconstancy  and  indif- 
ference among  married  couples  were  so  rare  as  to  be  almost 
unheard  of  exceptions  to  a  general  rule.     They  usually 


1735.]  RURAL     PLEASURES.  39 

married  early,  were  blessed  with  high  physical  and  mental 
health,  and  the  extreme  love  which  they  bore  to  their  off- 
spring made  those  parents  ever  dear  to  each  other  under 
the  discipline  of  every  possible  vicissitude.  The  children 
were  reared  in  great  simplicity  ;  and  except  being  taught 
to  love  and  adore  the  great  Author  of  their  being  and  their 
blessings,  they  were  permitted  to  follow  the  dictates  of  their 
nature,  ranging  at  full  liberty  in  the  open  air,  covered  in 
summer  with  a  light  and  cheap  garment,  which  protected 
them  from  the  sun,  and  in  winter  with  warm  clothing, 
made  according  to  the  dictates  of  convenience,  comfort  and 
health. 

The  summer  amusements  of  the  young  were  simple, 
healthful  and  joyous.  Their  principal  pleasure  consisted  in 
what  we  now  call pic-nics,  enjoyed  either  upon  the  beautiful 
islands  in  the  river  near  Albany,  which  were  then  covered 
with  grass  and  shrubbery,  tall  trees  and  clustering  vines, 
or  in  the  forests  on  the  hills.  When  the  warm  days  of 
spring  and  early  summer  appeared,  a  company  of  young 
men  and  maidens  would  set  out  at  sunrise  in  a  canoe  for 
the  islands,  or  in  light  wagons  for  "  the  bush,"  where  they 
would  frequently  meet  a  similar  party  on  the  same  delight- 
ful errand.  Each  maiden,  taught  from  early  childhood  to 
be  industrious,  would  take  her  work  basket  with  her,  and 
a  supply  of  tea,  sugar,  coffee,  and  other  materials  for  a 
frugal  breakfast,  while  the  young  men  carried  some  rum 
and  dried  fruit;  to  make  a  light  cool  punch  for  a  mid-day 
beverage.  But  no  previous  preparations  were  made  for  din- 
ner except  bread  and  cold  pastry,  it  being  expected  that 
the  young  men  would  bring  an  ample  supply  of  game  and 
fish  from  the  woods  and  the  waters,  provisions  having  been 
made  by  the  girls  of  apparatus  for  cooking,  the  use  of 
which  was  familiar  to  them  all.     After  dinner  the  com- 


40  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [H35. 

pany  would  pair  off  in  couples,  according  to  attachments 
and  affinities,  sometimes  brothers  and  sisters  together,  and 
sometimes  warm  friends  or  ardent  lovers,  and  stroll  in  all 
directions,  gathering  wild  strawberries  or  other  fruit  in  sum- 
mer, and  plucking  the  abundant  flowers,  to  be  arranged  into 
boquets  to  adorn  their  little  parlors  and  give  pleasure  to 
their  parents.  Sometimes  they  would  remain  abroad  until 
sunset,  and  take  tea  in  the  open  air  ;  or  they  would  call 
upon  some  friend  on  their  way  home,  and  partake  of  a 
light  evening  meal.  In  all  this  there  appeared  no  conven- 
tional restraints  upon  the  innocent  inclinations  of  nature. 
The  day  was  always  remembered  as  one  of  pure  enjoyment, 
without  the  passage  of  a  single  cloud  of  regret. 

The  winter  amusements  in  Albany  were  few  and  sim- 
ple, but,  like  those  of  summer,  pure,  healthful,  and  invig- 
orating. On  fine  winter  days  the  icy  bosom  of  the  Hudson 
would  be  alive  with  skaters  of  both  sexes,  and  vocal  with 
their  merry  laugh  and  joyous  songs  and  ringing  shouts  ; 
and  down  the  broad  and  winding  road  from  the  verge  of 
Pinkster  Hill,  whereon  the  State  capitolnow  reposes,  scores 
of  sleighs  might  be  seen  every  brilliant  moonlight  evening, 
coursing  with  ruddy  voyagers — boys  and  girls,  young  men 
and  maidens — who  swept  past  the  Dutch  Church  at  the 
foot,  and  halted  only  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  It  was  a 
most  animating  scene,  and  many  a  fair  spectator  would  sit 
or  stand  on  the  margin  of  the  slope  until  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock,  wrapped  in  furs,  to  enjoy  the  spectacle. 

Evening  parties,  the  company  seldom  numbering  over  a 
dozen,  were  quite  frequent.  These  were  often  the  sequels 
of  quilting  parties  ;  and  princJctums,  games,  simple  dances 
and  other  amusements  were  indulged  in,  but  never  contin- 
ued very  late.  The  young  men  sometimes  spent  an  evening 
in  conviviality  at  one  of  the  two  taverns  in  the  town,  and 


1735.]  SLAVERY     IN     ALBANY.  41 

sometimes  their  boisterous  mirth  would  disturb  the  quiet 
city  at  a  late  hour.  Habitual  drunkenness,  however,  was 
extremely  rare,  and  these  outbreaks  were  winked  at  as  com- 
paratively harmless. 

Among  these  people  the  slavery  of  Africans  was  so  sof- 
tened by  gentleness  and  mutual  attachments,  that  it  ap- 
peared truly  patriarchal,  and  a  real  blessing  to  the  negroes. 
It  was  a  most  beautiful  example  of  the  relations  of  master 
and  servant  as  they  should  be — each  interested  in  the  com- 
fort and  welfare  of  the  other.  They  stood  in  the  relative 
position  of  friends,  and  the  freedom  of  speech  and  action 
that  existed  between  them  was  that  of  intimate  compan- 
ions rather  than  that  of  a  superior  and  inferior.  "  I  have 
nowhere,"  says  an  eye  witness  of  society  there  at  the  time 
we  are  considering,  "  I  have  nowhere  met  with  instances 
of  friendship  more  tender  and  generous  than  that  which 
here  subsisted  between  the  slaves  and  their  masters  and 
mistresses.  The  slave  has  been  known,  in  the  course  of 
hunting;  or  of  Indian  trading,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  his 
life,  to  carry  the  disabled  master  through  unfrequented 
wilds  with  labor  and  fidelity  scarce  credible  ;  and  the  mas- 
ter has  been  equally  tender,  on  similar  occasions,  of  the 
humble  friend  who  stuck  closer  than  a  brother  ;  who  was 
baptized  with  the  same  baptism,  nurtured  under  the  same 
roof,  and  often  rocked  in  the  same  cradle  with  himself." 

The  influence  of  the  negro  women  was  often  very  great 
in  the  families  of  their  masters,  especially  those  who  were 
faithful  and  were  truly  beloved  ;  and  they  sometimes  ex- 
erted quite  as  much  authority  over  the  children  as  the 
parents  themselves.  They  were  uniformly  faithful  and 
true  ;  and  in  their  case  slavery,  aside  from  the  abstract 
principle  involved,  was  a  happy  lot. 

The  religion  of  the  Albanians  was  a  clear  perception 


42  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1735. 

and  recognition  of  the  duties  and  privileges  of  responsible 
and  dependant  creatures,  and  the  overruling  providence  of 
a  just  and  loving  Father  Supreme  ;  and  none  appeared  to 
doubt  the  great  truths  of  revelation  and  the  doctrines  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Their  piety,  based  upon  this  religion, 
was  more  emotional  than  demonstrative,  for  they  seldom 
evinced  fervor  or  enthusiasm  in  their  devotions.  Their  re- 
ligious observances  were  performed  regularly  and  quietly, 
and  bigotry  and  asceticism  found  no  dwelling-place  among 
them.  While  they  were  firm  in  their  own  belief  they  were 
extremely  tolerant,  even  to  the  extent  of  practical  indiffer- 
ence. Their  piety  was  a  prevailing  sentiment,  manifested 
in  their  entire  every-day  life  by  an  exemplary  walk  and 
conversation  ;  and  mothers  were  the  principal  religious 
teachers  of  the  children. 

Industry  and  frugality  ranked  among  the  cardinal  do- 
mestic virtues  of  this  exemplary  community.  The  females 
were  peculiarly  active  in  household  duties,  and  spent  much 
time  in  the  open  air,  in  both  town  and  country.  Every 
family  had  a  garden,  and  after  it  was  broken  up  by  the 
plough  or  spade  in  the  spring,  this  became  the  exclusive 
domain  of  woman,  in  which  no  man's  hand  was  seen  as  a 
cultivator.  In  these  every  kind  of  vegetable  for  the  table, 
and  flower  to  please  the  eye,  known  in  the  colony,  was 
cultivated  with  skill  and  care  by  her  delicate  hands  ;  and 
it  was  a  common  thing  to  see,  before  sunrise  on  a  warm 
spring  morning,  the  mistress  of  a  family,  in  simple  dress, 
with  an  umbrageous  caleche  on  her  head,  carrying  in  one 
hand  a  little  Indian  basket  with  seeds,  and  in  the  other  a 
rake  or  hoe,  to  perform  her  garden  work.  Half  the  day  or 
more  these  fair  gardeners,  perhaps  beautiful  in  form,  gentle 
in  manner,  and  refined  in  thought  and  conversation,  would 
ply  the  implements  of  husbandry,  winning  healthful  vigor 


1T35.]  HAPPYHOMES.  43 

for  mind  and  muscle  from  the  needful  exercise,  the  fresh 
earth,  the  breath  of  plants  and  flowers,  and  the  pure  air. 
Most  of  the  gardens  were  plain  and  arranged  in  beds,  part 
of  them  devoted  to  edible  plants  and  part  to  flowers.  The 
Schuylers,  and  one  or  two  other  families  in  the  city  and 
vicinity,  and  Van  Rensselaer,  the  Patroon,  on  the  northern 
border,  had  very  large  gardens,  laid  out  in  fanciful  Eu- 
ropean style  ;  and  among  the  beautiful  flowers  and  fra- 
grant shrubs  the  females  of  these  families  might  be  daily 
seen,  not  as  idle  loiterers,  but  as  willing  and  industrious 
workers. 

In  their  houses  the  women  were  extremely  neat.  "  They 
rise  early,"  says  Kalm,  "  go  to  sleep  late,  and  are  almost 
over  nice  and  cleanly  in  regard  to  the  floor,  which  is  fre- 
quently scoured  several  times  in  the  week."  Tea  had  been 
but  recently  introduced  among  them,  but  was  extensively 
used;  coffee,  seldom.  They  never  put  sugar  and  milk  in  their 
tea.,  but  took  a  small  piece  of  the  former  in  their  mouths 
while  sipping  the  beverage.  They  usually  breakfasted  at 
seven,  dined  at  twelve  or  one,  and  supped  at  six ;  and  most 
of  them  used  sweet  milk  or  buttermilk  at  every  meal. 
They  also  used  cheese  at  breakfast  and  dinner,  grated  in- 
stead of  sliced  ;  and  the  usual  drink  of  the  majority  of  the 
people  was  small  beer  and  pure  water.  The  wealthier  fam- 
ilies, although  not  indulging  in  the  variety  then  seen  upon 
tables  in  New  York,  used  much  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  pre- 
serves and  pastry,  nuts  and  fruits,  and  various  wines  at 
their  meals,  especially  when  entertaining  their  friends  or 
strangers.  Their  hospitality  toward  deserving  strangers 
was  free  and  generous,  without  formality  and  rules  of  eti- 
quette ;  and  they  never  allowed  their  visitors  to  interfere 
with  the  necessary  duties  of  the  household,  the  counting- 
room,  or  the  farm. 


44  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [1735. 

Trading,  trafficking,  and  hunting  formed  the  chief  bus- 
iness at  Albany.  The  young  men  generally  accompanied 
their  elders  on  long  trading  and  hunting  excursions  in  the 
interior  until  they  arrived  at  a  marriageable  age,  or  were 
resolved  on  matrimony.  Then  the  hoy,  as  all  were  called 
until  after  marriage,  began  to  consider  the  new  responsi- 
bilities he  was  about  to  assume,  and  receiving  from  his 
father  an  outfit  consisting  of  forty  or  fifty  dollars,  a  negro 
boy,  and  a  canoe,  he  would  start  for  the  wilderness  north 
and  west,  arrayed  almost  like  the  sons  of  the  forest.  His 
stock  in  trade  generally  consisted  of  coarse  fabrics,  blankets, 
guns,  powder,  lead,  rum,  and  trinkets  suitable  for  the  taste 
and  wants  of  the  Indians.  Their  food  provided  for  the  ex- 
cursion was  only  a  little  dried  beef  and  maize,  for  they  de- 
pended for  more  ample  supplies  for  daily  consumption  upon 
the  fowling-piece  and  the  fishing-hook.  They  slept  in  the 
'open  air  in  the  depths  of  the  forests,  where  bears,  wolves, 
and  panthers  were  numerous,  or  in  poisonous  fens,  where 
the  malaria  and  the  serpent  threatened  them  with  death, 
and  insects  annoyed.  Prone  to  observation,  they  became 
expert  in  knowledge  of  trees,  shrubs,  plants  and  soils,  and 
many  a  young  hunter  and  trader  gained,  during  those  ex- 
cursions, that  practical  knowledge  of  the  topography  and 
soil  of  the  virgin  country  which  enabled  him  to  select  desir- 
able tracts  of  land  for  purchase,  and  to  become  a  wealthy 
proprietor  of  broad  domains  in  after  years. 

Generally  successful,  the  trader  returned  with  plentiful 
winnings,  which  pleased  the  parents  of  the  maid  he  loved, 
and  became  the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  His  aspect  and 
character  would  be  much  modified.  "  It  is  utterly  incon- 
ceivable," says  Mrs.  Grant,  "how  even  a  single  season 
spent  in  this  manner  ripened  the  mind  and  changed  the 
whole  appearance,  nay,  the  very  character  of  the  counte- 


1735.]  BUSINESS     ADVENTURES.  45 

nances  of  these  demi-savages,  for  such  they  seem  on  re- 
turning from  among  their  friends  in  the  forests.  Lofty, 
sedate  and  collected,  they  seem  masters  of  themselves  and 
independent  of  others  ;  though  sunburnt  and  austere,  one 
scarcely  knows  them  till  they  unbend.  By  this  Indian 
likeness  I  do  not  think  them  by  any  means  degraded.  One 
must  have  seen  those  people  (the  Indians)  to  have  any  idea 
what  a  noble  animal  man  is  while  unsophisticated. 

"  The  joy  that  the  return  of  these  youths  occasioned 
was  proportioned  to  the  anxiety  their  perilous  journey  had 
produced.  In  some  instances  the  union  of  the  lovers  im- 
mediately took  place,  before  the  next  career  of  gainful 
hardships  commenced.  But  the  more  cautious  went  to 
New  York  in  winter,  disposed  of  their  peltry,  purchased  a 
larger  cargo  of  Indian  goods,  and  another  slave  and  canoe. 
The  next  year  they  laid  out  the  profits  of  their  former  ad- 
ventures in  flour  and  provisions,  the  staple  of  the  province; 
this  they  disposed  of  at  the  Bermuda  Islands,  where  they 
generally  purchased  one  of  those  light-sailing  cedar  schoon- 
ers, for  building  of  which  those  islanders  are  famous,  and 
proceeding  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  loaded  it  with  a  cargo 
of  rum,  sugar  and  molasses.  They  were  now  ripened  into 
men,  and  considered  as  active  and  useful  members  of  so- 
ciety. 

"  The  young  adventurer  had  generally  finished  this 
process  by  the  time  he  was  one  or  (at  most)  two  and 
twenty.  He  now  married,  or  if  married  before,  which  was 
pretty  often  the  case,  brought  home  his  wife  to  a  house  of 
his  own.  Either  he  kept  his  schooner,  and,  loading  her  with 
produce,  sailed  up  and  down  the  river  all  summer,  and  all 
winter  disposed  of  the  cargoes  he  obtained  in  exchange  to 
more  distant  settlers,  or  he  sold  her,  purchased  European 
goods,  and  kept  a  store.     Otherwise  he  settled  in  the  coun- 


46  PHILIP     SCHUYLER 


[1135. 


try,  and  became  as  diligent  in  his  agricultural  pursuits  as 
if  he  had  never  known  any  other."* 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  character  and  condition 
of  the  society  in  which  Philip  Schuyler  was  nurtured  for 
the  active  duties  of  life.  Frankness,  generosity,  patriot- 
ism, rectitude,  sobriety,  and  others  of  the  sterner  Christian 
virtues,  were  lessons  imparted  by  the  every-day  life  of  his 
people  ;  and  from  these  he  learned  that  divine  maxim  of 
truth,  manifested  in  the  lineaments  of  his  own  character 
during  a  long  life,  that  goodness  is  the  soul  of  greatness. 

*  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady 


CHAPTER    III. 

The  father  of  Philip  Schuyler  died  in  the  autumn  of 
1741,  and  was  interred  at  The  Flats,  (now  Watervliet,)  in 
the  family  burying-place  of  his  cousin,  Colonel  Philip 
Schuyler,  son  of  the  eminent  first  mayor  of  Albany. 
Philip  was  then  only  eight  years  of  age,  and  was  the  eldest 
of  five  children  that  were  left  to  the  care  of  their  mother. 
Their  grandfather,  Captain  John  Schuyler,  was  seventy- 
three  years  old,  and  enfeebled  by  the  severe  labors  he  had 
performed  and  the  hardships  he  had  endured  in  military 
life  on  the  frontier  and  as  Indian  commissioner.  The  en- 
tire duties  of  guardian  and  guide  for  the  orphans  were 
therefore  laid  upon  the  mother,  Cornelia  Van  Cortlandt 
Schuyler,  a  person  of  superior  excellence,  and  then  in  the 
prime  of  early  womanhood. 

According  to  the  English  laws  of  primogeniture,  Philip 
inherited  all  of  the  large  real  estate  of  his  father,  and  upon 
him  the  hopes  of  the  family  were  naturally  suspended. 
His  mother,  fully  equal  to  the  responsibilities  imposed 
upon  her,  and  sensible  of  the  importance  of  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  her  keeping,  trained  him  with  anxious  care  and 
solicitude,  and  was  rewarded  at  every  step  by  earnest  filial 
affection,  displays  of  great  goodness  of  heart,  and  promises 
of  an  honorable  career. 

Mrs.  Schuyler  was  an  indulgent  mother,  but  a  firm 
disciplinarian,  and  she  never  allowed  her  authority  to  be 
questioned  by  her  children.     Philip  frequently  mentioned 


48  PHILIP     SCHUYLEE.  [2Et.  11. 

an  illustrative  example  that  occurred  when  he  was  about 
ten  years  of  age.  On  one  occasion,  not  satisfied  with  some 
food  that  was  set  before  him  at  dinner,  he  refused  to  eat  it 
and  asked  for  another  dish.  His  mother,  regarding  his 
dislike  as  whimsical,  ordered  a  servant  to  carry  the  dish 
away,  and  nothing  else  was  given  him.  At  supper  the 
same  dish  was  set  before  him,  and  it  was  again  refused. 
He  went  to  bed  fasting,  and  the  next  morning  the  same 
dish  was  given  him  for  breakfast.  All  this  while  his  mother 
had  not  uttered  a  word  of  reproof,' nor  exhibited  the  least 
unkindness  of  manner.  Hunger  had  subdued  his  rebellious 
spirit,  and  conscience  made  him  penitent.  He  ate  the  ob- 
noxious food  cheerfully,  begged  his  mother  to  forgive  him 
for  his  obstinacy,  and  resolved  never  again  to  defy  her  au- 
thority. This  kind  of  maternal  discipline  had  a  powerful 
effect,  and  was  reproduced  in  the  character  of  the  son  in 
an  eminent  degree. 

And  now  a  dark  and  ominous  cloud  gathered  in  the 
northern  horizon  of  the  colony  and  filled  the  inhabitants 
with  alarm.  The  banner  of  hostility  was  again  raised  upon 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  savages  of  the  north  were  pre- 
paring to  go  out  upon  the  old  war  paths  which  led  to  the 
frontier  settlements  of  New  York.  For  thirty  years  after 
the  treaty  at  Utrecht  the  colonists  had  enjoyed  compara- 
tive repose.  The  English  and  French  governments  had 
been  at  peace,  and  their  respective  colonists  in  America 
had  lived  in  as  much  accord  as  national  antipathies  and 
dissimilarities  would  allow.  The  sword  had  been  kept  in 
its  scabbard  and  the  hatchet  in  its  grave,  and  the  benign 
influence  of  traffic  was  apparently  smoothing  the  way  for 
a  real  friendship  between  the  Canadians  and  the  people  of 
New  York,  when  the  torch  of  war  was  suddenly  kindled  in 
Europe,  and  speedily  lighted  up  the  forests  of  America. 


1-744.]  KING     GEORGE'S     WAR.  49 

A  contest  had  arisen  between  Maria  Theresa,  Empress 
of  Hungary,  and  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  King  of  France, 
concerning  the  occupancy  of  the  throne  of  Austria  as  the 
seat  of  the  German  empire,  just  become  vacant  by  the 
death  of  the  Queen's  father,  Charles  the  Sixth,  who,  full 
twenty  years  before,  had  publicly  settled  his  dominions  on 
his  daughter.  Louis  was  resolved  that  Charles  Albert, 
Elector  of  Bavaria,  should  be  elevated  to  that  throne, 
while  the  English  people  enthusiastically  favored  the  claims 
of  the  Hungarian  Queen  ;  and  the  King  of  England,  as 
Elector  of  Hanover,  espoused  her  cause.  A  contest,  called 
in  Europe  the  war  of  the  Austrian  succession,  ensued,  in 
which  nearly  all  the  continent  became  involved. 

France  declared  war  against  England  in  the  spring  of 
of  1744,  and  for  almost  four  years  the  contest  raged  in  both 
hemispheres.  In  America  it  was  called  King  George's 
war,  and  the  loyal  colonists,  sympathizing  with  their  fel- 
low subjects  in  England,  heartily  espoused  the  cause  of 
their  sovereign.  The  peace  that  had  so  long  rested  upon 
the  hills  and  valleys  of  America  was  suddenly  banished, 
and  the  excitement  of  hostile  sentiments  and  preparations 
prevailed  all  over  the  middle,  northern,  and  eastern  colo- 
nies. For  a  time  it  was  uncertain  where  the  flame  would 
be  first  kindled,  and  anxiety  and  continual  alarm  harassed 
the  people.  The  whole  frontier  of  New  York  and  New 
England  was  exposed  to  invasion  by  the  French  and  their 
savage  allies  ;  and  from  every  point  between  Niagara  and 
Quebec  came  intelligence  of  tampering  with  the  Indians  in 
the  English  interest  by  French  emissaries,  and  of  hostile 
preparations. 

Albany,  the  chief  frontier  town,  was  in  the  programme 
of  every  scheme  of  invasion,  because  it  was  the  key  to  the 
Hudson  river  and  the  provincial  capital  at  its  mouth,  so 

3 


50  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  f  JEt.  12> 

much  coveted  by  the  Gallic  power  on  the  St.  Lawrence  ; 
and  it  was  continually  menaced  with  the  terrible  blow 
dealt  upon  Schenectada  fifty  years  before.  Every  family 
and  every  individual  had  an  important  interest  at  stake, 
and  from  the  dawn  of  morning  until  the  falling  of  the 
evening  shadows  the  war  was  the  great  topic  which  occupied 
the  thoughts  and  speech  of  all,  from  the  mere  child,  listen- 
ing with  wonder,  to  the  mature  and  aged,  who  planned  and 
prepared  to  execute.  The  bud  of  young  Schuyler's  life  was 
then  just  developing  into  the  blossom  of  youth,  and  his 
plastic  mind  was  continually  impressed  with  words  and 
deeds  that  left  ineffaceable  records  of  memory  there,  to  be 
consulted  in  future  years. 

At  length  the  great  question  was  decided,  and  the  chief 
theatre  of  war  was  prepared  in  the  far  east,  where  the  fortress 
of  Louisburg,  the  great  stronghold  of  French  power  on 
this  continent,  reposed.  It  was  upon  the  island  of  Cape 
Breton,  which  lies  westward  of  the  entrance  to  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence,  and  had  been  constructed  by  the  French 
at  an  expense  of  five  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  On 
account  of  its  great  strength  it  was  called  the  Gibraltar  of 
America;  and  the  sagacious  William  Shirley,  then  governor 
of  Massachusetts,  under  whom  young  Schuyler  served  in 
after  years,  perceived  its  immense  importance  in  the  coming 
contest.  Plans  for  its  capture  were  speedily  formed  by  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  and  other  colonies  cheerfully 
lent  their  cooperation.  Ehode  Island,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Connecticut  furnished  their  proper  quota  of  troops, 
New  York  sent  artillery,  and  Pennsylvania  provisions. 
Thus  common  danger  was  extending  the  idea  of  a  neces- 
sity for  a  union  of  the  Anglo-American  colonies  ten  years 
before  it  assumed  a  practical  form  in  a  colonial  convention 
at  Albany. 


1745.]  CAPTURE     OF     LOUISBURG.  51 

Preparations  for  the  expedition  against  Louisburg  oc- 
cupied several  months,  and  then,  after  vainly  waiting  for 
some  time  in  expectation  of  aid  from  Commodore  Warren, 
who  was  in  the  West  Indies,  the  colonial  forces,  thirty-two 
hundred  strong,  under  the  general  command  of  William 
Pepperell,  sailed  for  Louisburg  on  the  4th  of  April,  1745. 
They  were  joined  at  Canseau  by  Warren  early  in  May,  and 
on  the  11th  of  that  month,  the  combined  forces,  four 
thousand  strong,  landed  a  short  distance  from  the  Louis- 
burg fortress.  Their  appearance  was  unexpected  to  the 
French,  and  at  first  great  consternation  prevailed  in  the 
town  and  garrison.  A  regular  siege  was  commenced  on 
the  last  day  of  May,  and  on  the  28th  of  June  the  French 
surrendered  the  fortress,  the  city  of  Louisburg,  and  the 
island  of  Cape  Breton  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 

Although  this  great  and  important  victory  was  achieved 
almost  entirely  by  the  colonial  troops,  the  British  govern- 
ment awarded  the  whole  of  the  prize  money,  amounting  to 
at  least  a  million  of  dollars,  to  the  officers  and  crews  of  the 
royal  ships-of-war.  The  two  commanders,  Warren  and 
Pepperell,  were  each  rewarded  with  the  title  of  baronet, 
but  the  British  ministry,  with  a  mean  spirit  of  jealousy 
toward  the  colonies,  used  every  effort  to  depreciate  the 
services  of  the  provincial  troops,  and  to  deprive  them  of 
their  share  of  the  glory  of  the  conquest  also.  This  injus- 
tice was  never  forgotten,  yet  the  loyalty  of  the  colonists 
was  too  ardent  and  sincere  to  be  seriously  diminished  by  it. 

Who  can  tell  how  much  the  recollection  of  this  injus- 
tice, quickened  by  subsequent  oppression,  served  to  make 
Kichard  Gridley,  the  engineer,  and  David  Wooster,  the 
brave  young  Connecticut  captain,  earnest  patriots  and  un- 
compromising opponents  of  the  crown  in  the  war  for  inde- 
pendence which  broke  out  thirty  years  afterward. 


52  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  13 

Flushed  with  this  great  victory  in  the  east,  Shirley 
contemplated  the  complete  conquest  of  the  French  colonial 
dominions.  He  urged  the  ministry  to  send  over  a  sufficient 
land  and  naval  force  for  that  purpose,  and  to  defend  the 
prizes  already  won,  for  it  could  not  he  doubted  that  the 
mortified  and  exasperated  French  would  put  forth  all  their 
energies  in  efforts  to  regain  what  they  had  lost.  Shirley's 
general  plan  was  to  send  a  British  fleet  and  army,  with 
New  England  troops,  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  attack  Que- 
bec, while  colonial  forces  from  New  York,  and  provinces 
southward  of  it,  should  rendezvous  at  Albany,  and  proceed 
against  the  French  fort  at  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  the  city  of  Montreal  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  The 
ministry  appeared  to  listen  favorably,  and  promised  the  de- 
sired aid.  The  Massachusetts  Assembly  agreed  to  the  mea- 
sure, and  a  large  body  of  New  England  troops  were  speedily 
collected  at  Boston,  and  waited  long  for  the  regulars  from 
England.  For  reasons  not  satisfactorily  explained,  the 
whole  summer  of  1746  passed  away  before  any  troops  from 
abroad  arrived,  and  the  fleet  of  Warren  did  not  come  at 
all. 

Shirley  was  disappointed  but  not  disheartened,  and  he 
proposed  to  detach  a  portion  of  the  New  England  troops 
to  join  the  other  provincials  at  Albany  in  an  attack  upon 
Crown  Point.  George  Clinton,  the  governor  of  New  York, 
warmly  seconded  the  proposition.  Through  the  influence 
of  the  Schuyler  family  and  others,  he  had  succeeded,  as  we 
shall  observe  presently,  in  not  only  securing  the  friendship 
of  the  Six  Nations,  but  in  engaging  them  to  render  active 
assistance  in  the  contest;  and  the  enterprise  appeared  to 
promise  abundant  success.  But  before  the  plan  could  be 
carried  into  effect  intelligence  came  from  the  east  that 
Louisburg  was  in  danger,  French  troops  and  Indian  war- 


1746.]  THE      COLONIES      SAVED.  53 

parties  being  on  their  march  toward  it.  The  New  Eng- 
enders were  accordingly  directed  to  hasten  toward  Cape 
Breton,  but  when  they  were  on  the  point  of  embarking 
from  Boston,  tidings  came  that  a  large  French  fleet  and 
army  were  upon  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia.  It  was  an  ar- 
mament consisting  of  forty  vessels,  under  the  Duke  D'An- 
ville,  conveying  more  than  three  thousand  disciplined  troops 
and  a  formidable  train  of  artillery,  for  the  recovery  of  the 
fortress  and  the  desolation  of  the  English  settlements. 
The  provincials  were  dismayed.  To  proceed  would  have 
been  madness,  and  for  a  moment  the  deepest  gloom  settled 
upon  the  colonists,  for  it  appeared  as  if  they  were  doomed 
to  destruction.  But  the  strong  arm  of  God's  providence, 
which  had  so  often  and  so  long  preserved  them  in  the 
midst  of  many  perils,  was  not  now  withdrawn.  Storms 
wrecked  many  of  the  French  vessels,  and  disease  soon 
wasted  hundreds  of  the  Gallic  troops  ;  and  D'Anville, 
thoroughly  dispirited,  abandoned  the  enterprise  without 
striking  a  blow. 

The  pious  New  Englanders  regarded  this  as  a  special 
deliverance,  and  hymns  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  went  up 
from  ten  thousand  homes,  unmixed,  however,  with  any  ex- 
pressions of  gratitude  or  respect  for  the  parent  State,  whose 
neglect,  but  for  this  deliverance,  would  have  insured  their 
ruin. 

Meanwhile  the  settlers  on  the  extreme  northern  fron- 
tiers had  been  terribly  smitten  by  bands  of  French  and 
Indian  marauders,  and  an  expedition  quite  formidable  in 
numbers  had  swept  down  the  valley  of  the  Hudson  as  far 
as  Saratoga,  within  about  thirty  miles  of  Albany,  leaving 
there  a  horrible  record,  and  spreading  the  wildest  alarm 
among  the  settlements  below.  This  expedition,  consisting  of 
upwards  of  five  hundred  Frenchmen  and  Huron  Indians,  ac- 


54  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  13. 

companied  by  some  disaffected  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations, 
left  Montreal  on  the  afternoon  of  the  4th  of  November, 
1745,  under  the  command  of  M.  Marin,  an  active  French 
officer,  and  proceeding  up  the  Sorel  from  Chamblee,  crossed 
Lake  Champlain  to  Fort  St.  Frederic  at  Crown  Point,  which 
was  then  commanded  by  M.  Vaudreuil.  They  arrived  there 
on  the  20th,  and  Marin  prepared  to  cross  the  country  to 
attack  some  English  settlements  on  the  Connecticut  river, 
which  was  the  original  object  of  the  expedition,  when  the 
Indians  expressed  a  reluctance  to  go  eastward  on  account 
of  the  lateness  of  the  season,  and  their  lack  of  preparation  for 
the  rigors  of  winter  weather.  Marin  was  disappointed,  for 
he  was  unwilling  to  return  empty  of  military  achievements. 
On  the  suggestion  of  Father  Piquet,  the  French  Prefect 
Apostolique  to  Canada,  who  met  the  expedition  at  Crown 
Point,  and  the  representations  of  the  Iroquois  who  were 
with  Marin,  that  officer  determined  to  lead  his  party  south- 
ward, toward  Orange,  as  Albany  was  yet  called  by  the 
French,  and  cut  off  the  advancing  English  settlements. 
They  passed  up  Lake  Champlain  and  Wood  Creek,  crossed 
the  country:  to  the  Hudson  river,  destroyed  Lydius'  lumber 
establishment  on  the  site  of  Fort  Edward,  and  approached 
the  thriving  settlement  of  Saratoga,  seated  on  the  flats  at 
the  junction  of  the  Fish  Creek  and  Hudson  river. 

The  scattered  village  of  Saratoga  consisted  of  about 
thirty  families,  many  of  them  tenants  of  Philip  Schuyler, 
who  owned  mills  and  a  large  landed  estate  there ;  and  near 
it,  upon  a  hill  across  the  river,  was  a  small  fort  in  a  dilapi- 
dated condition,  and  without  a  garrison.  Marin,  with  his 
motley  horde  of  white  and  dusky  savages,  accompanied  by 
Father  Piquet,  having  laid  waste  nearly  fifty  miles  of 
settlement,  approached  the  village  stealthily  on  the  night 
of  the  28th  of  November,  when  the  inhabitants  were  asleep. 


1745.]  DESTRUCTION     OF     SARATOGA.  55 

They  burnt  the  fort  and  most  of  the  houses,  plundered 
everything  of  value,  murdered  Mr.  Schuyler  and  a  few- 
others,  and  took  captive  one  hundred  and  nine  men,  wo- 
men and  children,  including  negroes. 

Beauvais,  one  of  the  officers  who  accompanied  Marin, 
knew  and  respected  Mr.  Schuyler.  He  went  to  his  house 
and  requested  him  to  surrender,  assuring  him  at  the  same 
time  that  he  should  suffer  no  personal  injury.  Schuyler 
was  a  brave  and  high  spirited  man,  and  refused  to  surren- 
der. He  called  Beauvais  a  dog,  and  fired  a  fusee  at  him. 
Beauvais  again  begged  him  to  surrender,  when  Schuyler 
fired  a  second  time.  The  incensed  Beauvais  instantly  re- 
turned the  fire  with  fatal  effect.  The  house,  which  was 
of  brick  and  pierced  for  muskets  to  the  roof,  was  entered, 
pillaged  and  burnt,  together  with  the  body  of  Mr.  Schuyler, 
and,  it  was  believed,  some  persons  who  were  concealed  in 
the  cellar. 

On  the  following  morning  the  marauders  chanted  the 
Te  Deum  in  the  midst  of  the  desolation  they  had  made, 
and  then  turned  their  steps  toward  Canada.  A  part  of  the 
prisoners  were  distributed  among  the  savages,  and  the  re- 
mainder were  carried  to  Montreal,  where  the  whole  party 
arrived  on  the  9th  of  December.* 

*  Among  the  Schuyler  papers  is  a  manuscript  of  twenty-two  foolscap 
pages,  in  the  French  language,  containing  a  complete  narrative  of  this  expe- 
dition, entitled  "Journal  de  la  Campagne  de  Sarastogue,  1745."  It  is  in 
the  peculiar  handwriting  of  the  time,  and  was  evidently  written  immediately 
after  the  occurrence  by  a  participant  in  the  expedition.  The  following  is  the 
entry  concerning  the  death  of  Schuyler,  the  substance  of  which  is  given  in 
the  text.     It  will  be  seen  that  Schuyler  is  spelt  Skulle : 

"  Sortant  du  moulin,  nous  allames  a  la  maison  du  nomme  Philippe  Skulle, 
brave  homme  qui  nous  aurait  fort  embarasse  s'il  eut  eu  vue  douzaine  d'hommes 
aussi  vaillans  que  luy.  Beauvais  qui  le  connoissait  et  qui  l'aimoit,  s'etoit  ren- 
du a  sa  maison  le  premier  et  en  lui  disant  son  nom  l'invita  fort  a  se  rendre 
qu'il  n'aurait  point  de  mal.  L'autre  luy  repondit  qu'il  etoit  un  chien  et  qu'il  le 
voulait  tuer  en  effet  luy  tira  un  coup  de  fusiL    Beauvais  luy  reitera  sa  priere  de 


56  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  l\ 

The  murdered  Schuyler  was  young  Philip's  uncle,  from 
whom  he  inherited  the  fine  estate  at  Saratoga,  which  he 
owned  when  it  was  desolated  by  order  of  Burgoyne  more 
than  thirty  years  afterward.  The  circumstances  of  his 
death  caused  the  fiercest  indignation  as  well  as  alarm 
throughout  the  province,  and  his  brother,  Colonel  Peter 
Schuyler,  who  had  been  Indian  commissioner  for  many 
years,  importuned  Governor  Clinton  for  a  detachment  of 
three  hundred  of  the  militia  of  the  lower  counties  to  de- 
fend the  frontier,  and  also  to  have  the  fort  at  Saratoga 
rebuilt  and  garrisoned.*  The  Commissioners  of  Indian 
affairs  also  urged  the  governor  to  take  other  measures  for 
the  security  of  the  frontiers  in  connection  with  the  friendly 
Six  Nations ;  and  a  letter  from  Doctor  Cadwallader  Colden, 
who  resided  in  the  vicinity  of  Newburgh,  was  received  by 
Clinton  at  about  the  same  time,  giving  alarming  suggestions 
concerning  an  expected  attack  by  the  Indians  on  the  western 
borders  of  Ulster  County.  Coincident  with  these  move- 
ments, the  Massachusetts  people  sent  an  earnest  request  for 

se  rendre  a  quoi  Phillipe  repondit  par  des  coups  de  fusils,  enfin  Beauvais  las 
d'etre  expose  a  son  feu,  lui  tira  son  coup  et  le  tua ;  nous  entrames  aussitot, 
et  tous  hit  pille  dans  l'instant — cette  maison  etoit  de  briques  percee  de  cren- 
eaux  jusques  a  rez  de  chaussee,  les  sauvages  nous  l'avoit  annoncee  comrae  un 
espece  de  corps  de  garde  on  il  y  avoit  des  soldats — ou  y  fit  quelques  domestlques 
prisonniers,  on  dit  qu'il  y  a  eu  du  monde  de  brule  qui  s?etoit  retire  dans  la 
cave. 

*  Fort  Saratoga  stood  upon  a  hill  on  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson,  opposite 
the  present  Schuylerville.  It  was  rebuilt  in  the  spring  of  1746,  in  quadran- 
gular form  and  strongly  palisaded,  and  named  Fort  Clinton.  At  each  cor- 
ner of  the  fort  were  the  houses  of  the  officers,  and  timber  barracks  for  the 
soldiers  were  within  the  palisadea  A  French  account  of  it  says  it  was  twenty- 
five  toises  (one  hundred  and  fifty  feet)  in  height,  meaning,  no  doubt,  its  height 
above  the  level  of  the  river.  The  English,  unable  to  defend  this  fort  against 
the  attacks  of  the  French  and  Indians,  burned  it  at  about  the  1st  of  December, 
1747.  A  French  officer  (Villiers),  who  visited  it  three  weeks  after  its  destruc- 
tion, saw  twenty  chimneys  then  standing.  He  reported  that  the  English  had 
ninety  batteaux  there  which  they  took  away  with  them. 


1746.]  CLINTON     AND     DELANCEY.  57 

New  York  to  join  with  the  New  England  colonies  in  a  con- 
federation for  mutual  welfare.  These  things  were  pressed 
upon  the  governor,  and  by  him  upon  the  representatives  of 
the  people,  at  a  moment  auspicious  for  their  receiving  at- 
tention. The  public  service  had  been  neglected  in  conse- 
quence of  the  almost  incessant  quarrels  between  the  chief 
magistrate  and  the  assembly,  causing  supplies  asked  for  to 
be  refused,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  commonwealth,  in 
a  time  of  great  danger,  to  be  made  shuttlecocks  for  the 
amusement  or  profit  of  partisan  players. 

Governor  Clinton  was  a  son  of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  had 
spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  navy,  loved  ease  and  good  cheer, 
and  evidently  came  to  America  to  mend  his  fortune — im- 
paired by  extravagance — by  genteel  frugality  in  a  society 
more  simple  than  he  found  at  home.  He  was  a  good- 
humored,  kind-hearted  man,  and  the  ten  years  of  his  ad- 
ministration might  have  passed  happily,  had  not  unwise 
advisers  influenced  him  at  the  beginning,  and  rancorous 
party  spirit  cursed  the  province.  The  old  politicians  who 
survived  the  administrations  of  Cosby  and  Clarke  were  as 
violent  in  their  mutual  animosities  as  ever,  and  the  gov- 
ernor, after  trying  for  awhile  to  propitiate  the  favor  of  both 
with  no  success,  made  the  wealthy,  able,  and  influential 
James  De  Lancey,  then  chief  justice  of  the  province,  his 
confidant  and  guide.  They  finally  quarreled  over  their 
cups  and  became  personal  and  political  foes,  and  from  that 
hour  Clinton  found  no  peace  in  his  public  life.  De  Lancey 
was  implacable.  He  was  a  politician  of  most  exquisite 
mould,  and  bore  almost  absolute  sway  over  the  colonial  as- 
sembly and  the  people.  At  the  table  where  their  friendship 
was  broken  he  had  taken  an  oath  of  revenge,  and  he  pur- 
sued Clinton  with  the  tenacity  of  a  hound.  He  aimed  to 
thwart  every  effort  of  the  governor  toward  placing  the 

3* 


58  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  13. 

province  in  a  state  of  proper  defense,  for  the  evident  pur- 
pose of  making  him,  by  his  seeming  inefficiency,  unpopular 
with  the  people,  while  the  governor,  having  the  advantage 
of  power,  dealt  severe  blows  of  retaliation  in  return. 

By  these  personal  disputes  and  public  agitations  which 
disturbed  the  waters  of  society  in  New  York,  a  hitherto 
obscure  man  was  cast  up  to  the  surface,  and  for  thirty 
years  he  held  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  history  of  the 
province,  especially  in  that  portion  that  pertained  to  the 
Indian  tribes  within  its  borders.  That  man  was  William 
Johnson,  a  nephew  of  Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren,  and 
then  in  the  prime  of  young  manhood.  His  uncle,  by  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Watts  of  New  York,  became  possessed  of 
many  broad  acres  upon  the  Mohawk  river,  and  Johnson 
came  from  Ireland  to  take  charge  of  the  princely  domain. 
For  several  years  his  ambition  lay  dormant,  and  he  was 
content  to  reside  in  obscurity  near  Fort  Hunter,  surrounded 
by  the  Mohawk  savages. 

The  quarrels  between  Clinton  and  De  Lancey  wrought 
a  change  in  Johnson's  aspirations  and  fortunes  as  sudden 
as  it  was  great.  Colonel  Schuyler,  who  had  long  and 
faithfully  exercised  the  duties  of  Indian  commissioner,  and 
was  greatly  beloved  by  the  Six  Nations,  unfortunately  for 
the  public  good  attached  himself  to  the  interests  of  De 
Lancey.  The  governor  was  offended,  and  as  Johnson,  who 
had  become  a  favorite  with  the  Indians,  had  given  Clinton 
full  proofs  of  his  friendship,  upon  him  the  office  held  by 
Colonel  Schuyler  was  conferred,  strictly  on  party  grounds. 
That  office  became  to  Johnson  the  door  of  entrance  to 
honors,  fame  and  fortune  ;  and  thus  the  man  with  whom 
Philip  Schuyler  the  younger  had  so  much  to  do  in  after 
years,  in  connection  with  the  Iroquois  confederacy,  was 
first  presented  to  public  view. 


1746.]  PREPARATIONS     FOR     WAR.  59 

The  foray  against  Saratoga,  and  the  imminent  danger 
that  every  where  overhung  the  province,  hushed  the  voice 
of  party  spirit  for  a  while  ;  and  when,  early  in  1746,  the 
governor,  by  his  message,  demanded  from  the  Legislature 
provision  for  constructing  six  new  block  houses  on  the 
northern  frontier  ;  the  punctual  payment  of  their  militia 
garrisons,  and  the  appointment  of  twenty-five  men  to  be 
posted  in  two  others  at  Schenectada  ;  notified  them  that 
the  Six  Nations  had  refused  to  act  in  the  war  ;  urged  an 
alliance  with  the  New  England  colonies  to  lessen  the  ex- 
pense of  repurchasing  the  aid  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy  ; 
insisted  upon  more  money  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the 
Indian  commissioners  ;  demanded  a  further  aid  of  provi- 
sions for  a  garrison  at  Oswego,  and  a  quota  of  men  to  gar- 
rison Louisburg  till  others  should  arrive  from  England  ; 
and  declared  that "  the  enemy  could  not  be  more  industrious 
for  the  ruin  of  the  colony  than  he  could  be  careful  to  pre- 
serve it  in  the  quiet  possession  of  his  Majesty's  subjects," 
scarcely  a  murmur  of  opposition  was  heard.  The  assembly 
proceeded  to  vote  for  the  services  recommended,  and  an  in- 
crease in  the  amount  of  paper  money  to  be  issued. 

Soon  after  this  a  scene  occurred  at  Albany  that  must 
have  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  upon  young 
Schuyler.  He  was  then  nearly  thirteen  years  of  age,  quite 
precocious,  and  vigilant  and  acute  in  his  observations  of 
passing  events.  Intelligence  had  come  from  England  that 
the  British  ministry  had  determined  to  send  an  expedition 
against  Canada,  and  desired  aid  from  the  colonies  in  men 
and  supplies.  This  was  the  project  of  Governor  Shirley 
already  mentioned.  It  gave  the  people  joy.  The  assembly 
voted  a  most  loyal  address  to  the  governor.  Bounties  were 
raised  for  volunteers,  and  for  the  purchase  of  ammunition 
and  provisions  ;  exportation  of  provisions  was  forbidden  ; 


60  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [j&T.  13. 

the  Six  Nations  were  invited  to  meet  the  governor  at  Al- 
bany in  council,  and  the  other  colonies  were  requested  to 
join  in  collecting  presents  to  conciliate  them  ;  artificers 
were  impressed  for  the  public  works,  and  other  measures 
for  vigorous  cooperation  were  planned. 

A  few  days  after  the  assembly  adjourned,  in  July,  the 
governor  departed  for  Albany,  with  Dr.  Colden  and  Philip 
Livingston,  of  his  Majesty's  council,  and  Captain  Kuther- 
ford,  who  commanded  in  the  north.  They  arrived  at  Al- 
bany on  the  21st  of  July,  and  after  being  cordially  received 
by  the  corporation,  the  regular  troops  in  the  city,  and  the 
militia,  the  governor  took  up  his  abode  in  the  fort,  on  ac- 
count of  the  prevalence  of  the  small  pox  in  the  town. 

Commissioner  Johnson,  meanwhile,  had  made  great 
exertions  to  arouse  the  Mohawks  to  war  against  the  French. 
He  flattered  their  pride  by  dressing  like  them,  and  gained 
their  further  good  will  by  feasting  them.  He  was  very 
successful,  and  on  the  8th  of  August  he  appeared  on  the 
hills  that  overlooked  old  Albany,  dressed  and  painted  like 
the  savages,  at  the  head  of  a  large  number  of  them.  Pre- 
parations having  been  made  for  their  formal  reception,  they 
were  led  down  to  the  fort,  where  the  chiefs  were  treated 
with  wine.  It  was  a  large  and  imposing  gathering  of  the 
noblest  sons  of  the  forest,  who  came  with  their  best  ap- 
pointments to  hold  friendly  communion  with  "  Corlear," 
as  the  governors  of  New  York  were  styled.  And  there 
were  many  other  braves  there  besides  those  of  the  Mohawk 
valley.  Chiefs  and  warriors  came  from  the  Delawares,  the 
Susquehannahs,  the  Kiver  Indians,  and  the  Mohegans  of 
the  Connecticut  valley.  All  the  people  of  the  town  flocked 
to  see  the  spectacle,  and  many  came  for  the  purpose  from 
the  neighboring  settlements. 

The  council  was  satisfactory  to  all  parties.   The  Indians 


1748]       TREATY     OF     AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.  61 

generally  promised  to  lift  the  hatchet  against  the  French, 
and  were  dismissed  with  presents,  and  Johnson  was  fur- 
nished with  arms  and  directed  to  send  out  war  parties  from 
Schcnectada  and  his  own  settlement  near  the  lower  Mohawk 
Castle,  to  annoy  the  French  and  their  savage  allies,  who 
brooded  in  the  forests  northward  of  the  English  homes  on 
the  borders  of  the  wilderness. 

From  this  time  no  actual  hostilities  of  importance  oc- 
curred within  the  province  of  New  York  or  on  its  frontier 
for  several  years  ;  but  the  annals  of  New  Hampshire  for 
two  years  thereafter  present  a  long  and  mournful  catalogue 
of  plantations  laid  waste  and  colonists  slain  or  carried  into 
captivity  by  the  French  and  Indians.  Pillage  appeared  to 
be  the  chief  object  of  the  invaders  ;  "  and  their  prowess," 
says  an  elegant  English  writer,  "  was  directed  less  against 
States  and  armies  than  against  dwelling-houses,  families, 
rural  industry  and  domestic  life."* 

In  April,  1748,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  in  western  Germany,  when  it  was  mutually 
agreed  that  all  prisoners  should  be  released,  and  all  acqui- 
sitions of  property  or  territory  made  by  either  party  should 
be  restored.  Louisburg,  therefore,  passed  back  into  the 
hands  of  the  French,  and  France  and  England  were  both 
immense  losers  by  the  conflict.  But  the  American  colo- 
nists, heavy  as  were  their  pecuniary  and  industrial  sacri- 
fices during  the  war,  were  great  gainers,  for  their  latent 
strength  was  developed,  and  the  incalculable  advantages 
of  union  were  discovered  and  appreciated.  They  were  tu- 
tored for  great  achievements  in  the  future — achievements 
in  which  Philip  Schuyler  bore  a  conspicuous  part. 

*  Grahamo's  Colonial  History  of  the  United  States,  i.  183. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Philip  Schuyler  was  little  more  than  fourteen  years 
of  age  when  the  war  was  closed  by  treaty,  and  its  attendant 
alarms  had  mostly  ceased.  He  had  studied  the  ordinary 
branches  of  a  plain  education  under  the  instructions  of  his 
mother,  for  the  schools  of  Albany  were  very  indifferent. 
He  also  had  the  advantage  of  listening  to  the  conversation, 
and  perhaps  actually  receiving  instruction  from  educated 
French  protestants,  who,  as  well  as  their  fathers,  had  ever 
been  welcome  visitors  in  the  mansion  of  Colonel  Schuyler 
at  The  Flats.  There  was  also  a  holier  tie  than  that  of 
mere  friendship  that  linked  the  Schuylers  in  sympathy 
with  those  people,  a  brother  of  the  colonel  having  mar- 
ried a  polished  and  well-educated  daughter  of  one  of  the 
Huguenot  refugees,  who  held  the  first  rank  in  society  in 
the  provincial  capital. 

Under  the  colonel's  hospitable  roof  young  Philip  spent 
much  time  during  his  childhood  and  youth  with  the  good 
"  Aunt  Schuyler,"  the  charming  matron  whose  character- 
istics of  mind  and  heart  have  been  so  beautifully  portrayed 
by  Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan,  for  he  appears  to  have  been  a 
special  favorite  with  her  and  her  husband,  whom  the  Mo- 
hawks loved  so  well.  It  appears  evident,  from  a  sentence 
contained  in  a  letter  of  his,  in  after  life,  that  he  received 
some  instructions  in  the  science  of  mathematics  from  one  of 
those  Huguenots,  who  may  have  been  employed  as  a  pri- 
vate tutor  in  some  wealthy  families  at  Albany.     From  his 


1747.]  EDUCATION     NEGLECTED.  63 

earliest  years  Philip  had  exhibited  a  great  fondness  for  nu- 
merals ;  and  long  before  he  left  home  for  a  wider  range  in 
intellectual  culture,  he  was  complete  master  of  all  arith- 
metical rules  laid  down  in  the  books  then  in  use  or  ex- 
pounded by  the  tutors  in  schools. 

The  subject  of  education,  considered  so  important  by 
the  early  Dutch  settlers,  had,  after  the  conquest  of  New 
Netherland  by  the  English,  received  less  and  less  attention 
until  the  period  in  question,  when  nearly  all  schools  were 
neglected,  and  there  was  no  institution  in  the  province 
where  an  academic  education  might  be  acquired.  Chief 
Justice  Smith,  a  resident  and  cotemporary  historian,  when 
alluding  to  the  action  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York  in 
1746,  in  authorizing  the  raising  of  twenty-two  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds,  by  lottery,  for  founding  a  college,  says  : 
u  To  the  disgrace  of  our  first  planters,  who  beyond  com- 
parison surpassed  their  eastern  neighbors  in  opulence,  Mr. 
De  Lancey,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
(England,)  and  Mr.  Smith,  were  for  many  years  the  only 
academics  in  this  province,  except  such  as  were  in  holy  or- 
ders ;  and  so  late  as  the  period  we  are  now  examining, 
(1750,)  the  author  did  not  recollect  above  thirteen  more, 
the  youngest  of  whom  had  his  bachelor's  degree  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  but  two  months  before  the  passing  of  the 
above  law,  the  first  toward  erecting  a  college  in  this  colony, 
though  at  a  distance  of  above  one  hundred  and  twenty 
years  after  its  discovery  and  the  settlement  of  the  capital 
by  Dutch  progenitors  from  Amsterdam/''''  "  The  persons 
alluded  to,"  says  Judge  Smith,  in  a  note,  "  were  Peter  Van 
Brugh  Livingston,  John  Livingston,  Philip  Livingston, 
William  Livingston,  William  Nicoll,  Benjamin  Nicoll, 
Hendrick  Hansen,  William  Peartree  Smith,  Caleb  Smith, 

*  History  of  the  Province  of  New  York  ;  by  "William  Smith. 


64  PHILIP     SCHUYLER. 


[JET.  14. 


Benjamin  Woolsey,  William  Smith,  jr.,  John  M'Evers,  and 
John  Yan  Home.  These  being  then  in  the  morning  of  life, 
there  was  no  academic  but  Mr.  De  Lancey  on  the  bench  or 
in  either  of  the  three  branches  of  the  Legislature,  and  Mr. 
Smith  was  the  only  one  at  the  bar."  All  of  these  were 
afterward  the  cotemporaries  of  Philip  Schuyler  in  public 
life — some  with  him  and  some  against  him  in  the  arena  of 
political  strife. 

At  that  time  commerce  engrossed  the  attention  of  the 
principal  families  in  the  province,  for  it  was  the  surest  road 
to  wealth  and  social  distinction  ;  and  the  sons  who  were 
generally  destined  for  its  avocations,  were  usually  sent  from 
the  writing-school  to  the  counting-room,  and,  in  due  time, 
on  a  voyage  to  the  West  India  Islands.  This  practice  was 
introduced  by  the  French  refugees,  who  had  settled  in  the 
province  near  the  close  of  the  preceding  century,  they  hav- 
ing brought  with  them  money,  arts,  manners,  education, 
and  all  the  essential  elements  of  thrift  and  progress,  and 
had  become  the  chief  merchants  of  New  York. 

Although  young  Schuyler  was  not  specially  designed 
for  mercantile  life — for  large  landed  estates  awaited  his  care 
when  he  should  arrive  at  his  majority — his  education  ap- 
pears to  have  been  directed  toward  that  end.  At  the  age  of 
about  fifteen  years,  he  was  placed  in  a  school  at  New  Eo- 
chelle,  in  Westchester  County,  then  in  charge  of  the  Eev- 
erend  Mr.  Stouppe,  a  native  of  Switzerland  and  pastor  of 
the  French  Protestant  church  at  that  place.  The  settle- 
ment was  composed  almost  entirely  of  the  families  of  those 
Huguenots  who  fled  from  France  to  avoid  persecution  be- 
tween' the  years  1680  and  1700,  the  minions  of  the  Pope 
having  persuaded  the  profligate  Louis  the  Fourteenth  to 
break  the  great  green  seal  that  held  the  solemn  edict  of 
Henry  the  Fourth,  made  ninety  ^years  before,  which  pro- 


173T.]  THE     HUGUENOTS.  65 

claimed  toleration  to  all  the  Huguenots  of  his  kingdom. 
In  the  great  Protestant  exodus  that  ensued,  the  strongest 
foundations  of  the  French  State  were  sapped.  Eight 
hundred  thousand  of  her  best  citizens — skillful  agricul- 
turists and  artisans,  and  virtuous  families — fled  from  her 
borders,  and  carried  the  secret  arts  of  France  into  other 
countries.  Fifty  thousand  cunning  workmen  took  refuge 
in  England,  and  gave  that  realm  the  benefit  of  their  skill, 
while  large  numbers  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  sought  quiet 
homes  in  a  strange  land,  where  the  rights  of  conscience  were 
held  sacred.  Those  who  settled  in  the  province  of  New 
York  were  nearly  all  from  La  Rochelle.  They  soon  sepa- 
rated, the  artisans  remaining  in  the  city,  and  the  tillers  of 
the  soil  seating  themselves  in  the  country,  some  on  the 
Hudson  above  the  Highlands,  and  a  large  number  upon 
a  beautiful  spot  purchased  for  them  by  Jacob  Leisler  on 
the  banks  of  Long  Island  Sound.  That  spot  they  sol- 
emnly dedicated  as  their  future  home,  and  named  it  New 
Rochelle,  in  remembrance  of  the  loved  city  in  their  birth- 
land  from  which  they  had  fled.  They  soon  built  a  church 
edifice  and  established  a  school,  and  there  (the  only  place 
within  the  English  colonies,)  the  French  language  was 
taught. 

Young  Schuyler  entered  upon  his  studies  at  New  Ro- 
chelle with  a  great  deal  of  zeal.  Very  soon  the  hand  of 
disease  was  laid  heavily  upon  him,  and  for  a  whole  year  he 
was  confined  to  his  room  with  hereditary  gout.  It  was  the 
first  appearance  of  a  malady  that  tormented  him  all  his 
life,  notwithstanding  he  was  always  active  and  temperate 
in  eating  and  drinking.  The  fortitude  of  the  youthful 
martyr  was  sufficient  to  sustain  him,  and  during  the  whole 
period  of  his  sufferings  he  hardly  relaxed  his  studies  for  an 
hour.  Mathematics  and  the  exact  sciences  were  his  favorites. 


66  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  18. 

These  he  pursued  with  a  devotional  spirit,  and  he  acquired 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  French  language,  then  seldom 
learned  except  by  the  sons  of  merchants  engaged  in  trade 
with  the  West  Indies. 

How  long  Philip  remained  at  New  Kochelle  can  not  be 
determined,  for  there  is  no  record  to  answer.  Probably 
not  more  than  two  years,  for  as  early  as  the  summer  of 
1751,  when  he  was  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  was  deep  in 
the  wilderness  on  the  borders  of  the  Upper  Mohawk, 
doubtless  on  one  of  those  wild  trading  and  hunting  excur- 
sions in  which  all  young  Albanians  engaged.  He  was  then 
a  tall  youth,  with  a  florid  complexion,  a  benevolent  cast  of 
features,  a  fine,  manly  deportment,  and  distinguished  for 
great  kindness  of  manner.  The  red  men  of  the  forest  ad- 
mired and  loved  him,  and  whenever-  he  visited  them,  in 
company  with  Colonel  Johnson,  or  with  Albany  merchants 
in  their  summer  tours  to  Oswego,  they  always  gave  him 
some  testimonial  of  their  regard.  On  one  of  these  occa- 
sions, when  Philip  was  about  twenty  years  of  age,  some  of 
the  Oneida  chiefs  met  him  at  the  carrying  place  between 
Wook  creek  and  the  Oneida  lake,  while  he  was  on  his  way 
to  Oswego,  and  sought  and  obtained  his  assistance  in  nul- 
lifying a  sale  of  much  of  their  lands  westward  of  Utica, 
which  had  been  made  to  scheming  white  speculators  by  the 
dissolute  young  men  of  the  nation.  The  latter  had  been 
bribed  by  a  little  money  and  a  great  deal  of  rum  to  make 
the  transaction.  Schuyler  was  successful,  and  the  domain 
was  saved  to  the  nation.  The  chiefs,  to  testify  their  grati- 
tude, exchanged  names  with  him,  a  custom  then  common 
among  them,  by  which  they  considered  both  parties  hon- 
ored. Several  of  them  assumed  his  surname,  and  the  last 
of  the  General's  children,  who  survived  him  more  than 


1751.]  SOCIETY     IN     NEW     YORK.  67 

half  a  century,*  remembered  that  almost  sixty  years  after- 
ward, full-blooded  Oneidas,  named  Schuyler,  came  to 
Utica  to  sell  their  beautifully  embroidered  moccasins,  and 
partook  of  the  holy  communion  at  the  same  table  with 
herself  in  the  Episcopal  church.  From  the  time  of  these 
friendly  services  to  the  Indians  until  his  death,  no  man  ex- 
cept Colonel  Johnson  ever  exercised  a  greater  influence 
over  the  more  easterly  tribes  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy 
than  Philip  Schuyler. 

After  his  eighteenth  year  Philip  usually  visited  New 
York  each  autumn,  and  spent  several  weeks  with  friends 
and  relatives  in  the  metropolis.  Society  there  was  quite 
different  in  many  of  its  aspects  from  that  in  Albany. 
There  was  far  less  of  the  staid  Dutch  element  in  its  char- 
acter, and  it  displayed  in  prominent  lines  the  cosmopolitan 
features  of  commercial  marts.  Being  the  seat  of  the  col- 
onial government,  the  tone  of  the  best  society  was  marked 
by  courtly  gaiety  of  manner  and  the  appearance  of  consid- 
erable luxury.  New  York  was  one  of  the  most  social 
places  on  the  continent.  The  inhabitants  consisted  prin- 
cipally of  merchants,  shopkeepers,  and  tradesmen ;  and  there 
was  not  so  great  an  inequality  of  wealth  and  position  as  in 
many  other  places.  They  were  sober,  honest,  industrious 
and  hospitable,  though  intent  upon  gain  ;  and  were  gener- 
ally frugal  and  temperate,  except  the  richer  sort,  whose 
tables  were  furnished  with  the  greatest  variety  of  meat, 
vegetables  and  liquors. 

Their  amusements  were  simple  and  rational.  The  men 
were  not  given  to  extravagant  gaming  nor  the  cruel  prac- 
tice of  horse  racing.  They  usually  collected  in  weekly 
evening  clubs  for  conversation,  smoking,  and  the  indul- 

*  Mrs.  Catharine  Van  Rensselaer  Cochrane,  his  youngest  child,  who  died 
at  Oswego,  New  York,  on  the  26th  of  August,  1837,  aged  76  years. 


68  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  20. 

gence  of  games  of  chance  for  amusement  ;  and  the  women 
of  all  ages  were  amused  in  summer  by  aquatic  excursions 
on  the  neighboring  waters,  and  in  winter  by  concerts  of 
music  and  assemblies  for  dancing,  which  were  held  in  a 
large  room  in  the  Exchange  at  the  foot  of  Broad  street. 
On  such  occasions  they  assembled  and  retired  early  ;  and 
there  might  always  be  seen  many  handsome  women,  "  scarce 
any  of  them  distorted  shapes,"  and  all  well  dressed. 

At  about  this  time  theatrical  performances  were  intro- 
duced into  New  York  for  the  first  time.  As  usual,  they 
were  exceedingly  attractive,  especially  to  young  people,  and 
the  little  theatre  fitted  up  in  Nassau  street,  south  side, 
between  the  present  Fulton  and  John  streets,  with  room 
enough  for  only  about  three  hundred  persons,  was  usually 
crowded  on  the  nights  of  performance,  which  occurred  tri- 
weekly. The  theatre  was  opened  at  about  the  middle  of 
September,  1753,  under  the  management  of  Lewis  Hal- 
lam,  who  had  been  with  his  company  performing  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, in  Virginia,  and  at  Annapolis  and  other  places 
in  Maryland.  Young  Schuyler,  who  was  always  a  welcome 
visitor  in  the  choicest  circles  of  New  York,  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  his  own  excellence  of  character  and  easy  and 
refined  manners,  but  because  of  his  relationship  by  inter- 
marriages with  families  in  the  city  who  held  the  highest 
social  position  next  to  the  governor,  appears  to  have  been 
present  at  one  of  the  earliest,  perhaps  the  very  earliest  of 
these  performances.  Writing  to  a  friend  in  Albany  on  the 
21st  of  September,  he  says  : 

"  The  schooner  arrived  at  Ten  Eyck's  wharf  on  Wednesday,  at  one 
o'clock,  and  the  same  evening  I  went  to  the  play  with  Phil.  You  know 
I  told  you  before  I  left  home  that  if  the  players  should  be  here  I  should 
see  them,  for  a  player  is  a  new  thing  under  the  sun  in  our  good  province. 
Phil's  sweetheart  went  with  us.     She  is  a  handsome  brunette  from 


1753.]  THE     THEATER.  69 

Barbadoes,  has  an  eye  like  that  of  a  Mohawk  beauty,  and  appears  to 
possess  a  good  understanding.  Phil,  and  I  went  to  see  the  grand  battery 
in  the  afternoon,  and  to  pay  my  respects  to  the  governor,  whose  lady 
spent  a  week  with  us  last  spring,  and  we  bought  our  play  tickets  for 
eight  shillings  apiece,  at  Parker  and  Weyman's  printing-office,  in  Beaver 
street,  on  our  return.  We  had  tea  at  five  o'clock,  and  before  sundown 
we  were  in  the  theatre,  for  the  players  commenced  at  six.*  The  room 
was  quite  full  already.  Among  the  company  was  your  cousin  Tom  and 
Kitty  Livingston,  and  also  Jack  Watts,  Sir  Peter  Warren's  brother-in- 
law.  I  would  like  to  tell  you  all  about  the  play,  but  T  can't  now,  for 
Billy  must  take  this  to  the  wharf  for  Captain  Wynkoop  in  half  an  hour. 
He  sails  this  afternoon. 

"A  large  green  curtain  hung  before  the  players  until  they  were 
ready  to  begin,  when,  on  the  blast  of  a  whistle,  it  was  raised,  and  some 
of  them  appeared  and  commenced  acting.  The  play  was  called  Tne  Con- 
scious Lovers,  written,  you  know,  by  Sir  Richard  Steele,  Addison's  help 
in  writing  the  Spectator.  Hallam,  and  his  wife  and  sister,  all  performed, 
and  a  sprightly  young  man  named  Hulett  played  the  violin  and  danced 
merrily.  But  I  said  I  could  not  tell  you  about  the  play,  so  I  will  for- 
bear, only  adding  that  I  was  no  better  pleased  than  I  should  have  been 
at  the  club,  where,  last  year,  I  went  with  cousin  Stephen,  and  heard 
many  wise  sayings  which  I  hope  profited  me  something. 

"'To-morrow  I  expect  to  go  into  Jersey  to  visit  Colonel  Schuyler, t 
who  was  at  our  house  four  or  five  years  ago,  when  he  returned  from 
Oswego.  He  is  a  kinsman  and  good  soldier,  and  as  I  believe  we  shall 
have  war  again  with  the  French  quite  as  soon  as  we  could  wish,  I  ex- 
pect he  will  lead  his  Jerseymen  to  the  field..    I  wish  you  and  I,  Brom., 

*  On  the  20th  of  November,  [1753,]  the  following  curious  note  appeared 
on  the  play  bills: 

"  N.  B.  Gentlemen  and  ladies  that  intend  to  favor  us  with  their  company 
are  desired  to  come  by  six  o'clock,  being  determined  to  keep  to  our  hour,  as 
it  would  be  a  great  inconvenience  to  them  to  be  kept  out  late,  and  a  means 
to  prevent  disappointment." — Dunlap's  History  of  the  American  TJieatre, 
page  14. 

f  Grandson  of  the  first  Schuyler,  of  Albany,  and  second  son  of  Arent 
Schuyler,  who  settled  in  New  Jersey.  "When  an  incursion  into  Canada  was 
projected  in  1746,  he  was  put  in  command  of  a  New  Jersey  regiment,  and 
was  at  Oswego  for  two  years,  when  he  returned  to  private  life.  He  went 
with  his  regiment  to  the  same  fort  in  1755.  He  was  made  a  prisoner  on  pa- 
role in  1756,  but  was  ordered  to  Canada  in  1758,  where  he  was  soon  exchanged 
and  returned  home.  He  was  soon  in  tHb  north  again  with  his  regiment,  and 
in  September,  1760,  he  entered  Montreal  as  a  victor.  He  died  in  1762,  near 
Newark,  New  Jersey. 


70  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  20. 

could  go  with  him.     But  I  must  say  farewell,  with  love  to  Peggy,  and 
sweet  Kitty  V.  K.  if  you  see  her."* 


This,  and  another  short  letter,  comprise  all  of  the  writ- 
ings of  General  Schuyler,  in  manuscript  or  published,  that 
I  have  seen  bearing  date  earlier  than  that  of  his  commission 
as  captain,  in  1755.  Indeed  very  little  is  known  of  his 
career  up  to  that  time,  for  no  biographical  sketch  of  him 
was  written  during  his  life,  and  he  left  behind  no  contin- 
uous diary  or  journal  containing  any  notice  of  his  earlier, 
years. 

Schools  in  New  York,  at  this  time,  were  of  a  low  order. 
"The  instructors  want  instruction,"  said  a  cotemporary, 
"  and  through  a  long,  shameful  neglect  of  all  the  arts  and 
sciences,  our  common  speech  is  extremely  corrupt,  and  the 
evidences  of  a  bad  taste,  both  as  to  thought  and  lan^ua^e, 
are  visible  in  all  our  proceedings,  public  and  private."f 
There  was  nothing  more  generally  neglected  than  reading 
among  all  classes,  imitating,  in  this  respect,  society  in 
England  at  that  time,  when  education  was  regarded  as 
pedantry,  and  a  student  outside  of  the  liberal  professions 
was  a  great  rarity.  Philip  Schuyler,  who  had  acquired 
much  useful  knowledge  and  a  great  variety  of  information 
from  books,  as  well  as  observation,  was  therefore  looked 
upon  almost  as  a  prodigy  in  New  York,  and  men  of  culture 
delighted  to  have  him  visit  them.  Among  these  he  best 
loved  the  society  of  Mr.  Barclay,  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Mr.  Johnson,  his  assistant,  and  Mr.  Smith,  the  historian. 
With  the  latter  he  became  very  intimate,  and  they  were 
constant  correspondents  for  years  before  the  Kevolution. 
and  even  after  Mr.  Smith  had  taken  an  opposing  position 

*  Autograph  Letter  of  Philip  Schuyler  to  Abraham  Ten  Broeck.     f  Smith. 


1753.]  LIBRARIES.  71 

in  politics  and  espoused  the  cause  of  the  king  in  the 
quarrel. 

Only  two  newspapers  were  published  in  New  York  at 
this  period,  and  they  were  very  indifferent  ones.  They 
contained  very  little  reading  except  advertisements  and  a 
meagre  record  of  current  events,  but  were  much  improved 
a  few  years  later,  when  Hugh  Game's  Mercury  became  a 
vehicle  through  which  some  of  the  ablest  essayists  of  the 
province  were  enabled  to  reach  the  public  ear. 

In  libraries  the  people  were  very  deficient.  In  the  City 
Hall,  a  strong  brick  edifice,  two  stories  in  height,  which 
stood  upon  the  site  of  the  present  custom-house,  were  a 
thousand  volumes,  which  had  been  bequeathed  to  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  by  Dr.  Millington,  Hector  of  Newington.  That 
library  was  sent  to  New  York  in  1730,  and,  as  evidence  of 
the  scarcity  of  books  in  America  at  that  time,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  the  secretary  of  the  society,  in  his  letter  to 
Governor  Montgomerie,  stated  that  they  were  sent  "for 
the  use  of  the  clergy  and  gentlemen  of  New  York,  and  the 
neighboring  governments  of  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  and 
Pennsylvania,  upon  giving  security  to  return  them."  The 
greater  part  of  these  were  theological  works,  and  at  the 
time  we  are  considering  many  of  them  were  missing.  With 
the  movement  for  the  establishment  of  a  college  in  New 
York  a  desire  for  a  public  library  appears  to  have  arisen, 
and  in  1754  a  considerable  sum  was  subscribed  for  that 
purpose,  and  seven  hundred  volumes  of  new  and  well  se- 
lected books  were  purchased.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
New  York  Society  Library,  one  of  the  most  flourishing  of 
the  literary  institutions  of  that  city  at  the  present  time.* 

*  The  largest  private  library  known  in  the  province  previous  to  the  Rev- 
olution was  that  of  Governor  Montgomerie,  which  contained  1,341  volumes 


72  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [.Et.  20. 

Religion,  morals  and  metaphysics  received  due  atten- 
tion, but  in  different  degrees.  Theology  had  always  been 
a  favorite  topic  for  meditation,  and  at  about  the  middle  of 
the  last  century  it  became  almost  as  popular  as  politics  as 
a  theme  for  public  discussion  in  the  province,  because  of 
recent  ecclesiastical  movements  in  England  that  deeply 
concerned  the  American  colonists.  Every  Protestant  sect 
was  legally  tolerated  in  the  province,  while  the  Episcopa- 
lians, dwelling  under  the  shadow  of  the  established  church 
in  England,  and  claiming  precedence,  looked  with  very 
little  favor  upon  the  dissenters.  The  dislike  was  mutual, 
and  no  love  was  wasted. 

Nationality,  likewise,  had  a  separating  influence,  and 
the  old  hatred  that  existed  between  the  English  and  Dutch 
had  not  disappeared,  but  was  greatly  modified.  The  bulk 
of  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  city  consisted  of  the 
descendants  from  the  original  Dutch  planters  and  traders, 
and  there  were  two  churches  in  the  city  wherein  the  gospel 
was  preached  in  the  language  of  their  fathers,  by  Ritzema 
and  De  Eonde,  who  were  both  strict  Calvinists.  These 
two  churches  were  associated  under  one  incorporation  styled 
the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  of  the  city  of  New 
York. 

There  were  also  two  Episcopal  church  edifices  in  the 
city.  Trinity  Church,  first  erected  in  1697  and  rebuilt  in 
1737,  contained  seats  for  two  thousand  hearers,  but  stran- 
gers and  proselytes  had  so  augmented  the  congregation 

of  a  standard  character.  The  first  law  library  of  which  we  have  any  account 
was  that  of  Broughton,  the  attorney-general  in  1704,  which  contained  only 
thirty-six  volumes.  The  library  of  Judge  Smith,  the  historian,  and  that  of 
his  father,  the  eminent  jurist,  who  died  in  1769,  contained  about  a  thousand 
volumes  of  law  and  miscellaneous  books  and  pamphlets.  Of  the  latter  they 
had  a  large  collection,  dating  back  to  the  civil  wars  in  Charles  the  First's 
time. 


1753.]  RELIGIOUS     DENOMINATIONS  73 

that  in  1752  St.  George's  chapel  was  erected  on  Beekman 
street,  in  what  was  then  considered  "a  new,  crowded,  and 
ill-built  part  of  the  town."  In  the  face  of  much  opposition 
from  the  Church  of  England  party,  a  Presbyterian  church 
was  founded  in  1719,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Mr. 
Anderson,  a  Scotch  minister,  but  they  did  not  erect  a 
church  edifice  until  1748.  At  this  time  the  French  church 
had  become  torn  by  dissensions,  and  its  membership  re- 
duced to  a  handfull.  There  were  also  in  the  city  two  Ger- 
man Lutheran  churches,  and  a  Quaker  and  an  Anabaptist 
meeting-house,  a  Jewish  synagogue,  and  a  Moravian  con- 
gregation. The  latter  was  a  new  sect  in  America,  just 
planted  by  Count  Zinzendorf  and  others,  and  the  congrega- 
tion in  New  York  then  consisted  principally  of  female 
converts  from  other  religious  societies. 

But  the  Episcopalians  took  the  lead  in  influence,  the 
aristocracy  being  chiefly  members  of  that  church.  They 
enjoyed  the  advantages  of  special  privileges  granted  by 
their  church  charter  and  laws  connected  with  it,  the  vio- 
lent, weak,  and  dissolute  Governor  Fletcher,  who  became 
the  tool  of  the  aristocracy  and  was  hated  by  the  people, 
having  procured  the  passage  of  an  act  by  the  Assembly 
which  virtually  made  the  doctrines  and  rituals  of  that 
church  the  established  religion  of  the  province.  With 
profane  and  perhaps  drunken  lips,  he  piously  declared  to 
the  Assembly  that  "  neither  heresy,  sedition,  schism  or  re- 
bellion should  be  preached  among  them,  nor  vice  and  profan- 
ity encouraged/'  His  views  were  seconded  by  the  successor 
of  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  Edward  Hyde,  (Lord  Cornbury,) 
the  licentious  robber  of  the  public  treasury,  who  persecuted 
all  denominations  of  Christians  except  those  of  the  Church 
of  England.  From  his  time  until  the  kindling  of  the  old 
war  for  independence,  in  whose  blaze  the  rubbish  of  des- 

4 


74  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  20. 

potic  systems  of  every  kind  in  the  colonies  was  consumed, 
the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  of  the  annual  salary  of  the 
rector  of  Trinity  Church  was  unrighteously  levied  upon  all 
the  other  clergy  and  laity  in  the  city. 

At  about  the  time  in  question,  a  sharp  controversy 
commenced  between  the  episcopal  and  dissenting  writers 
of  the  province,  and  continued  for  several  years,  continually 
increasing  in  acrimony.  The  chief  cause  of  the  contro- 
versy was  the  alarm  felt  in  the  colonies  concerning  a  scheme 
proposed  in  1748  by  Dr.  Seeker,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
for  establishing  episcopacy  and  curtailing  the  Puritan  or 
dissenting  influence  in  the  political  and  religious  affairs  of 
the  American  colonies.  The  throne  and  the  hierarchy  were 
in  a  measure  mutually  dependent,  and  Dr.  Seeker's  propo- 
sition was  warmly  approved  by  the  British  cabinet. 

The  colonists,  viewing  episcopacy  in  its  worst  light,  as 
exhibited  in  the  early  days  of  the  American  settlements, 
had  been  taught  to  fear  such  power,  if  it  should  happen  to 
be  wielded  by  the  hand  of  a  crafty  politician,  more  than 
the  arm  of  civil  government,  and  they  regarded  the  arch- 
bishop's scheme  as  a  weapon  of  contemplated  tyranny. 
The  eminent  Whitefield  had  been  for  years  crossing  and 
re-crossing  the  Atlantic  on  errands  of  mercy,  and  arousing 
the  colonists  to  a  right  sense  of  their  duties  and  privileges. 
He  had  taught  lessons  concerning  religious  freedom  with 
power  to  thousands  whose  minds  had  never  been  agitated 
by  reflections  and  speculations  upon  such  subjects  ;  and  all 
over  the  land  there  was  a  general  awakening  to  truths  of 
vast  importance,  secular  and  spiritual,  hitherto  undiscov- 
ered or  unrecognized.  These  truths  imparted  strength  to 
the  recipients,  and  with  the  recent  vindication  of  the  liberty 
of  the  press  in  the  acquittal  of  Zenger,  they  made  many 
bold  in  their  enunciation  of  maxims  concerning  the  freedom 


1753.]  ALARM     NOTES     SOUNDED.  75 

of  conscience,  and  the  right  of  every  man  to  the  exercise 
of  private  judgment  in  matters  relating  solely  to  himself 
and  his  God.  I 

The  public  mind  was  prepared  to  act  when  the  notes 
of  alarm  were  sounded,  and  Whitefield  was  among  the 
first  to  send  them  over  the  land.  He  had  learned  the 
secret  of  Archbishop  Seeker's  scheme,  and  the  fact  that 
the  integrity  of  Puritanism  in  New  England  had  been 
approached  with  the  bribe  of  a  bishop's  mitre  for  several 
dissenting  divines,  and  he  exclaimed  to  Dr.  Langdon,  of 
Harvard  college,  "  I  can  not  leave  this  town  without  ac- 
quainting you  with  a  secret.  My  heart  bleeds  for  America. 
0,  poor  New  England  !  There  is  a  deep  laid  plot  against 
both  your  civil  and  religious  liberties,  and  they  will  be  lost. 
Your  golden  days  are  at  an  end.  You  have  nothing  but 
trouble  before  you.  Your  liberties  will  be  lost  if  you  are 
not  vigilant  and  brave  !" 

From  other  points  alarums  were  sounded,  and  the  pens 
of  ready  writers  caught  up  the  strain  and  put  forth  valiant 
words  and  hard  arguments  in  opposition.  Among  the  most 
powerful  and  industrious  of  these  writers  in  the  province  of 
New  York  was  William  Livingston,  (afterward  governor  of 
New  Jersey,)  a  native  of  Albany,  then  about  thirty  years 
of  age,  and  already  eminent  as  a  lawyer  in  the  provincial 
capital.  He  commenced  his  task  behind  the  curtain  of 
anonymity,  and  dealt  heavy  blows  in  favor  of  Presbyter- 
ianism  and  against  episcopacy,  in  a  weekly  periodical  called 
the  Independent  Reflector,  first  published  late  in  1752. 

For  some  time  the  Reflector  was  devoted  to  the  expos- 
ure and  censure  of  local  social  and  political  abuses,  and 
the  suggestion  of  ideas  practically  beneficial  to  the  people. 
The  talent  displayed,  the  truths  put  forth,  and  the  interests 
disturbed  by  this  serial  attracted  general  attention  imnie- 


76  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  20. 

diately,  and  provoked  the  strongest  opposition.  The  editor 
spared  no  party,  social,  political,  or  religious  ;  and  he  was 
denounced  in  private  circles  as  an  infidel  and  libertine,  and 
in  the  pulpit  as  the  Gog  and  Magog  of  the  Apocalypse. 
The  mayor,  who  had  felt  his  lash,  recommended  the  grand 
jury  to  present  the  Beflector  as  a  libel,  and  the  author  was 
publicly  charged  with  profanity,  irreligion,  and  sedition. 

It  was  not  until  the  spring  of  1753  that  the  Episcopa- 
lians and  their  interests  were  assailed  in  the  Beflector. 
The  occasion  was  the  effort  (which  proved  successful)  to 
place  the  College  about  to  be  established  under  the  control 
of  the  Episcopalians.  Mr.  Livingston  was  one  of  the 
small  minority  of  the  trustees  who  were  not  of  that  de- 
nomination, and  had  opposed  the  measure  because  the 
Episcopalians  were  greatly  in  the  minority  in  the  province, 
and  the  money  having  been  raised  by  a  general  tax.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  March  he  opened  his  batteries  with  great 
force  against  the  measure.  His  language  was  bold  and  de- 
fiant, but  dignified  and  unexceptionable.  He  caught  up 
the  alarm  notes  of  Whitefield,  and  in  several  numbers  he 
most  ably  discussed  the  subject  of  Christianity  and  its 
mission,  and  its  relations  to  society  and  the  civil  power, 
drawing  illustrations  for  his  arguments  from  the  past  his- 
tory of  the  Church  of  England  and  events  around  him. 
Violent  opposition  immediately  appeared,  and  Barclay, 
Johnson,  Auchmuty,  and  other  churchmen  answered  the 
strictures  of  the  Beflector  in  the  columns  of  Gaine's  Mer- 
cury. The  subject  was  considered  of  sufficient  importance 
to  compose  almost  the  entire  theme  of  a  letter  written  at 
the  close  of  June,  1753,  by  the  Reverend  Samuel  Johnson 
to  Dr.  Seeker,  the  Achbishop  of  Canterbury.  "Among 
other  pernicious  books,"  he  said,  "  the  Independent  Whig 
grows  much  in  vogue,  and  a  notable  set  of  young  gentle- 


1753.]         THE     INDEPENDENT     REFLECTOR.  77 

men  of  figure  in  New  York  have  of  late  set  up  for  writers 
in  that  way  in  a  weekly  paper  called  the  Independent  Re- 
flector* Several  worthy  gentlemen  of  the  Church  in  that 
province  have  of  late  been  embarked  in  the  design  of  erect- 
ing a  college  as  a  seminary  of  the  Church,  though  with  a 
free  and  generous  toleration  for  other  denominations,  upon 
which  these  Keflectors  have  been  indefatigable  in  their 
paper,  and  by  all  possible  means,  both  public  and  private, 
endeavoring  to  spirit  up  the  people  against  us,  and  to  wrest 
it  out  of  the  Church's  hands  and  make  it  a  sort  of  a  free- 
thinking,  latitudinarian  seminary.f  We  have  several  of  us 
been  writing  in  the  Church's  defense  against  them,  and  en- 
deavoring, not  without  some  success,  to  defeat  their  perni- 
cious schemes." 

Finally,  through  the  influence  of  the  civil  authority, 
the  clergy,  and  the  aristocracy,  the  printers  of  the  Indepen- 
dent Reflector  (Parker  and  Weyman,)  were  induced  to  re- 
fuse to  print  it  any  longer,  and  it  was  closed  with  the  fifty 
second  number,  on  the  22d  of  November,  1753.  But  the 
controversy  continued  for  more  than  ten  years,  in  various 

*  It  was  known  that  Livingston  was  the  sole  conductor  of  this  work,  and 
his  articles  were  signed  with  different  initials.  But  there  were  some  able  con- 
tributors besides  himself,  over  different  signatures,  and  as  John  Morin  Scott, 
William  Peartree  Smith,  and  William  Smith,  the  historian,  coincided  with  him 
in  sentiment,  these  have  been  named  as  his  coadjutors.  In  the  letter  here 
quoted,  Mr.  Johnson  speaks  of  Mr.  Smith  (the  young  man  who  bore  it,)  as 
one  who  had  written  against  the  Reflectors. 

f  In  the  spring  of  1754,  the  trustees  of  the  college,  stimulated  by  an  offer 
of  a  tract  of  land  whereon  to  build  an  edifice,  made  by  Trinity  Church,  on 
condition  that  the  head  of  the  college  should  always  be  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  the  prayers  of  the  church  always  to  be  used  in  it, 
petitioned  Lieutenant  Governor  De  Lancey  for  a  charter  containing  such  pro- 
visions. Livingston  alone  entered  a  protest  against  the  prayers  of  the  peti- 
tioners, believing  that  this  college  scheme  was  a  part  of  the  great  plan 
arranged  for  uniting  Church  and  State  in  the  colonies.  But  the  act  of  incor- 
poration, with  these  sectarian  provisions,  was  passed,  and  the  Reverend 
Samuel  Johnson,  the  writer  of  this  letter,  was  appointed  to  the  presidency. 


78  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  20 

ways,  and  through  various  vehicles.  The  synod  of  Con- 
necticut voted  thanks  to  Livingston  for  his  championship  ; 
while  in  Game's  paper  he  was  lampooned  in  a  poem  of 
almost  two  hundred  lines.  Livingston  wrote  anonymously, 
and  the  poet  thus  referred  to  the  author  : 

"  Some  think  him  a  Tindall,  some  think  hira  a  Chubb, 
Some  think  him  a  Banter,  that  spouts  from  his  tub ; 
Some  think  him  a  Newton,  some  think  him  a  Locke, 
Some  think  him  a  Stone,  some  think  him  a  Stock — 
But  a  Stock  he  at  least  may  thank  Nature  for  giving, 
And  if  he's  a  Stone,  I  pronounce  it  a  Living." 

Young  Schuyler  was  in  New  York  when  the  forty-sixth 
number  of  the  Reflector  appeared,  which  contained  the 
editor's  "  creed"  in  thirty-nine  articles.  In  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  whose  name  does  not  appear  in  the  manuscript,  he 
said  :  "I  send  you  the  forty-sixth  number  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Reflector,  which  is  making  a  notable  stir  here. 
The  clergy,  and  all  churchmen,  are  in  arms  against  it,  and 
our  friend,  Will.  Livingston,  who  is  the  principal  writer, 
is  thought  by  some  to  be  one  of  the  most  promising  men  in 
the  province.  I  esteem  the  Church  and  its  liturgy,  but  I 
believe  he  is  right  in  opposing  the  ridiculous  pretensions  of 
the  clergy,  who  would  make  it  as  infallible  as  the  Popish 
Church  claims  to  be.  I  wish  liberty  of  conscience  in  all 
things,  and  I  believe  our  friend  is  right  when  he  says, '  Our 
faith,  like  our  stomachs,  may  be  overcharged,  especially  if 
ive  are  prohibited  to  chew  what  we  are  commanded  to 
swallow/  " 

The  foregoing  glance  at  the  social  and  religious  aspect 
of  New  York,  at  the  period  we  are  considering,  will  be 
found  essential  as  we  proceed  in  our  researches  concerning 
the  development  of  events  that  led  to  the  old  war  for  in- 
dependence, in  which  Philip  Schuyler  bore  a  conspicuous 


1753.]  UEW     YORK     CITY.  79 

and  noble  part,  because  in  these  elements  we  may  perceive 
the  philosophy  of  the  history  of  those  times. 

A  brief  delineation  of  some  of  the  most  prominent 
material  characteristics  of  the  city  of  New  York,  the  me- 
tropolis of  the  province,  is  equally  necessary  for  the  samo 
reasons,  because  the  quarrel  was  based  upon  interests  in- 
volving principles  of  a  moral  and  material  character. 

New  York  city,  at  that  time,  contained  about  thirteen 
thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  about  two  thousand  were 
negroes,  who  were  mostly  held  in  easy  servitude  as  bond 
slaves.  There  were  about  twenty-five  hundred  buildings 
in  the  city,  many  of  them  of  brick,  covered  with  tiles,  and 
most  of  them  presenting  an  aspect  of  comfort  and  thrift, 
Fine  country  residences,  surrounded  by  gardens  and  pas- 
tures, embellished  the  suburbs,  and  some  of  the  town  resi- 
dences were  comparatively  palatial.  The  city  was  almost 
a  mile  in  length,  and  about  half  a  mile  in  its  greatest 
breadth.  Some  of  the  streets  were  paved  with  huge  peb- 
bles, as  in  rural  cities  and  villages  at  the  present,  but  nearly 
all  of  them  were  irregular  in  their  linear  relations  and 
course.  Its  markets  were  well  supplied  with  fish,  flesh, 
and  vegetables  of  every  kind,  the  latter  being  chiefly  raised 
by  Dutch  farmers  on  Harlem  Plains,  near  the  northern  end 
of  the  island.  "  No  part  of  America,"  says  a  cotemporary 
writer,*  "is  better  supplied  with  markets  abounding  with 
greater  plenty  and  variety.  *  *  *  Our  oysters  are  a  con- 
siderable article  in  support  of  the  poor.  Their  beds  are 
within  view  of  the  town  ;  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  small 
craft  are  often  seen  there,  at  a  time,  when  the  weather  is 
mild  in  winter  ;  and  this  single  article  is  computed  to  be 
worth,  annually,  £10,000  or  £12,000." 

The  merchants  of  New  York  were  justly  compared  to 

*  William  Smith. 


80  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  20. 

a  hive  of  bees  gathering  honey  for  others,  for  the  largest 
portion  of  the  profits  of  their  trade  centered  in  Great  Bri- 
tain. They  were  not  allowed  to  traffic  except  with  Great 
Britain  or  its  colonies  ;  and  acts  of  Parliament  forbade 
various  domestic  manufactures,  so  that  many  necessary  ar- 
ticles which  the  colonists  might  have  made  for  themselves 
were  imported  from  England. 

They  exported  to  the  British  West  Indies  bread,  peas, 
rye,  meal,  Indian  corn,  apples,  onions,  boards,  staves,  horses, 
sheep,  butter,  cheese,  pickled  oysters,  beef  and  pork.  Of 
flour  alone  they  shipped  about  eighty  thousand  barrels  a 
year.  Their  returns  consisted  chiefly  of  rum,  sugar,  and 
molasses  from  the  islands,  and  cash  from  Curacoa,  and  the 
balance  in  this  trade  was  always  in  favor  of  the  New  York 
merchants.  They  imported  cotton, from  St.  Thomas  and 
Surinam,  lime-juice  and  Nicaragua  wood  from  Curacoa, 
and  logwood  from  the  Bay  of  Honduras.  They  exported 
flax  seed  to  Ireland  and  logwood  and  furs  to  England,  but 
the  balance  was  always  largely  against  the  colonists.  The 
importation  of  dry  goods  alone  from  Great  Britain  was  so 
great  that  they  often  found  it  very  difficult  to  make  re- 
mittances. They  were  consequently  drained  of  gold  and 
silver  by  the  British  merchants.  The  annual  importation 
of  goods  from  Great  Britain  by  the  colony  of  New  York, 
at  that  time  (1753  to  1760),  was  estimated  at  not  less 
than  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

The  city  of  New  York,  incorporated  more  than  sixty 
years  before,  was  divided  into  seven  wards,  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  mayor,  recorder,  aldermen  and  assistant 
aldermen,  who  formed  a  common  council.  The  mayor, 
sheriff  and  coroner,  were  annually  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor, and  the  recorder,  holding  a  patent  from  the  same 
officer,  was  dependent  upon  his  pleasure  for  the  term  of  his 


1753.  J  DEFENSES    OF    NEW    YOEK    CITY.  81 

official  career.  The  annual  revenue  of  the  corporation 
was  nearly  two  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  the  standing 
militia  of  the  island  consisted  of  ^twenty-three  hundred 
men.  The  city  had  also,  in  reserve,  one  thousand  stand  of 
arms  for  seamen,  the  poor,  and  others,  in  case  of  an  inva- 
sion. 

A  strong  fortification  was  upon  the  lower  end  of  the 
island,  on  the  site  of  the  old  Fort  Amsterdam,  called  Fort 
George,  in  which  was  the  governor's  house,  three  stories  in 
height  and  pleasantly  fronting  the  bay  ;  also  brick  barracks, 
originally  built  for  the  accommodation  of  the  independent 
companies.  A  large  battery  had  just  been  erected  east- 
ward of  the  fort,  built  of  stone,  cedar  joists  and  earth,  on 
which  ninety-two  cannon  were  mounted  ;  and  in  front  was 
Nutten  (now  Governor's)  Island,  which  was  made  a  de- 
mesne for  the  governors  by  an  act  of  the  colonial  assembly, 
on  which  the  erection  of  a  strong  castle  was  then  under 
discussion,  it  being  an  eligible  point  for  an  enemy  to  plant 
batteries  to  bombard  the  town.  A  greater  portion  of  the 
palisades  and  block-houses  erected  during  the  alarm  caused 
by  the  enemy's  inroads  on  the  northern  frontier  in  1745, 
extending  from  the  East  river  to  the  Hudson,  nearly  on  a 
line  with  the  present  Chambers  street,  were  yet  remaining, 
"  a  monument  to  our  folly,"  says  Judge  Smith,  "  which 
cost  £8,000." 

Such  was  New  York  at  the  opening  of  the  French  and 
Indian  war,  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  during 
which  the  province  became  the  theatre  of  the  most  stirring 
scenes  of  that  contest. 

4* 


CHAPTER    V. 

In  the  old  family  Bible  that  belonged  to  General  Schuy- 
ler may  be  seen,  in  his  hand- writing,  this  record  :  "  In  the 
Year  1755,  on  the  17th  of  September,  was  I,  Philip  John 
Schuyler,  married  (in  the  21st  Year,  9th  Month,  and  17th 
Day  of  his  Age,)  to  Catharine  Van  Rensselaer,  aged  20 
Years,  9  Months,  and  27  Days.  May  we  live  in  peace  and 
to  the  glory  of  God." 

This  was  the  "sweet  Kitty  Y.  R."  mentioned  in  Philip's 
letter  in  the  preceding  chapter.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Colonel  Johannes  Van  Rensselaer,  of  Claverack,  in  the 
present  Columbia  county,  New  York.  They  were  married 
by  that  excellent  minister  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church 
in  Albany,  Dominie  Frelinghuysen.  She  was  delicate  but 
perfect  in  form  and  feature  ;  of  medium  height,  extremely 
graceful  in  her  movements,  and  winning  in  her  deport- 
ment; well  educated,  in  comparison  with  others,  of  sprightly 
temperament,  possessed  of  great  firmness  and  tenacity  of 
will,  and  was  very  frugal,  industrious  and  methodical. 

The  benediction  implored  by  the  husband  in  his  mar- 
riage record  appears  to  have  been  granted  in  full  measure, 
for  his  spouse,  who  bore  him  fourteen  children,  and  was  his 
companion  for  eight- and-f or ty  years,  was  all  that  a  man 
could  desire  as  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  the  joy  and  solace  of 
his  life,  and  the  mother  of  his  offspring.  They  loved  each 
other  tenderly,  bore  the  burdens  of  life  together  lovingly 
and  patiently,  enjoyed   God's   blessings   abundantly  and 


H55.]    PERSONAL    APPEARANCE    OF    SCHUYLER.     83 

thankfully,  and  ended  their  pilgrimage  almost  at  the  same 
time,  only  the  space  of  twenty  months  separating  them  on 
earth.  Of  her  it  might  have  been  truthfully  said,  at  every 
period  of  her  life,  she  was 

"  A  Being  breathing  thoughtful  breath, 
A  Traveler  between  life  and  death ; 
The  reason  firm,  the  temperate  will, 
Endurance,  foresight,  strength  and  skill; 
A  perfect  "Woman,  nobly  planned 
To  warn,  to  comfort,  and  command ; 
And  yet  a  Spirit  still,  and  bright, 
With  something  of  an  angel  light." 

Mrs.  Grant,  in  her  admirable  sketches  of  persons  and 
events  during  her  residence  with  "  Aunt  Schuyler"  at  the 
Flats,  has  given  a  brief  outline  of  the  portraiture  of  Philip 
as  it  was  impressed  upon  her  memory  ten  years  after  his 
marriage.  He  was  then  known  as  "  Philip  Schuyler  of  the 
Pasture,"  to  distinguish  him  from  a  kinsman  of  the  same 
name,  who  lived  with  the  Colonel  at  the  Flats  as  his  ex- 
pectant heir.  "  He  appeared,"  says  Mrs.  Grant,  "  merely 
a  careless,  good  humored  young  man.  Never  was  any  one 
so  little  what  he  seemed  with  regard  to  ability,  activity  and 
ambition,  art,  enterprise  and  perseverance,  all  of  which  he 
possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,  though  no  man  had  less 
the  appearance  of  these  qualities.  Easy,  complying,  and 
good  humored,  the  conversations,  full  of  wisdom  and  sound 
policy,  of  which  he  had  been  a  seemingly  inattentive  wit- 
ness at  the  Flats,  only  slept  in  his  recollection,  to  wake  in 
full  force  when  called  forth  by  occasion." 

Mrs.  Grant's  picture  of  society  and  of  domestic  life  at 
the  Flats  is  so  charming,  and  also  so  useful  in  forming  a 
truthful  estimate  of  the  home  life  of  young  Schuyler  and 
his  youthful  wife,  (for  their  own  household  was  modeled  in 
a  manner  after  that  of  "  Aunt  Schuyler's,"  under  whose 


84  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [jgT.  22L 

roof  they  spent  much  time,)  that  no  apology  is  needed  fa 
giving  it  here  almost  entire.  At  this  time  "  Aunt  Schuy 
ler"  was  on  the  evening  side  of  life,  and  was  so  corpulent 
that  she  moved  about  with  difficulty,  yet  she  entertained 
her  guests  with  delightful  ease,  and  enjoyed  society  with  a 
zest  that  many  might  envy.  "  After  the  middle  of  life/' 
says  Mrs.  Grant,  "  she  went  little  out ;  her  household,  long 
since  arranged  by  general  rules,  went  regularly  on,  because 
every  domestic  knew  exactly  the  duties  of  his  or  her  place, 
and  dreaded  losing  it  as  the  greatest  possible  misfortune. 
She  had  always  with  her  some  young  person,  i  who  was 
unto  her  as  a  daughter/  who  was  her  friend  and  companion, 
and  bred  up  in  such  a  manner  as  to  qualify  her  for  being 
such,  and  one  of  whose  duties  it  was  to  inspect  the  state 
of  the  household,  and  '  report  progress'  with  regard  to  the 
operations  going  on  in  the  various  departments.  For  no 
one  better  understood,  or  more  justly  estimated,  the  duties 
of  housewifery.  Thus  those  young  females  who  had  the 
happiness  of  being  bred  under  her  auspices  very  soon  be- 
came qualified  to  assist  her  instead  of  encroaching  much 
on  her  time.  The  example  and  conversation  of  the  family 
in  which  they  lived  was  to  them  a  perpetual  school  of  use- 
ful knowledge,  and  manners  easy  and  dignified,  though 
natural  and  artless.  They  were  not,  indeed,  embellished, 
but  then  they  were  not  deformed  by  affectation,  preten- 
sions, or  defective  imitation  of  fashionable  models  of  man- 
ners. They  were  not,  indeed,  bred  up  'to  dance,  to  dress, 
to  roll  the  ey  ,  or  troll  the  tongue  /  yet  they  were  not  lec< 
tured  with  unnatural  gravity  or  frozen  reserve.  I  have  seen 
those  of  them  who  were  lovely,  gay,  and  animated,  though, 
in  the  words  of  an  old  familiar  lyric, 

1  Without  disguise  or  art,  like  flowers  that  grace  the  wild, 
Their  sweets  they  did  impart  whene'er  they  spoke  or  smiled.' 


1755 ]     aunt    Schuyler's    household.        85 

"  Aunt/'  continues  Mrs.  Grant,  "  was  a  great  manager 
of  her  time,  and  always  contrived  to  create  leisure  hours 
for  reading ;  for  that  kind  of  conversation  which  is  properly- 
styled  gossiping  she  had  the  utmost  contempt.  Light,  su- 
perficial reading,  such  as  merely  fills  a  blank  in  time,  and 
glides  over  the  mind  without  leaving  an  impression,  was 
little  known  there,  for  few  books  crossed  the  Atlantic  but 
such  as  were  worth  carrying  so  far  for  their  intrinsic  value. 
She  was  too  much  accustomed  to  have  her  mind  occupied 
with  objects  of  real  weight  and  importance  to  give  it  up 
to  frivolous  pursuits  of  any  kind.  She  began  the  morning 
with  reading  the  Scriptures.  They  always  breakfasted 
early  and  dined  two  hours  later  than  the  primitive  inhabi- 
tants, who  always  took  that  meal  at  twelve.  This  depar- 
ture from  the  ancient  customs  was  necessary  in  this  family, 
to  accommodate  the  great  number  of  British  as  well  as 
strangers  from  New  York,  who  were  daily  entertained  at 
her  liberal  table.  This  arrangement  gave  her  the  advan- 
tage of  a  long  forenoon  to  dispose  of.  After  breakfast  she 
gave  orders  for  the  family  details  of  the  day,  which,  with- 
out a  scrupulous  attention  to  those  minutise  which  fell 
more  properly  under  the  notice  of  her  young  friends,  she 
always  regulated  in  the  most  judicious  manner,  so  as  to 
prevent  all  appearance  of  hurry  and  confusion.  There 
was  such  a  rivalry  among  domestics,  whose  sole  ambition 
was  her  favor,  and  who  had  been  trained  up  from  infancy, 
each  to  their  several  duties,  that  excellence  in  each  depart- 
ment was  the  result  both  of  habit  and  emulation  ;  while 
her  young  proteges  were  early  taught  the  value  and  impor- 
tance of  good  housewifery,  and  were  sedulous  in  their  at- 
tention to  little  matters  of  decoration  and  elegance  which 
her  mind  was  too  much  engrossed  to  attend  to  ;  so  that  her 
household  affairs,  ever  well  regulated,  went  on  in  a  mechan- 


86  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  22. 

ical  kind  of  progress  that  seemed  to  engage  little  of  her  at- 
tention, though  her  vigilant  and  overruling  mind  set  every 
spring  of  action  in  motion. 

"  Having  thus  easily  and  speedily  arranged  the  details 
of  the  day.  she  retired  to  read  in  her  closet,  where  she  gen- 
erally remained  till  about  eleven,  when,  being  unequal  to 
distant  walks,  the  Colonel  and  she,  and  some  of  her  elder 
guests,  passed  some  of  the  hotter  hours  among  those  em- 
bowering shades  of  her  garden,  in  which  she  took  great 
pleasure.  Here  was  their  Lyceum  ;  here  questions  in  reli- 
gion and  morality,  too  weighty  for  table-talk,  were  leisurely 
and  coolly  discussed,  and  plans  of  policy  and  various  util- 
ity arranged.  From  this  retreat  they  adjourned  to  the 
portico,  and  while  the  Colonel  either  retired  to  write,  or 
went  to  give  directions  to  his  servants,  she  sat  in  this  little 
tribunal,  giving  audience  to  new  settlers,  followers  of  the 
army  left  in  hopeless  dependence,  and  others  who  wanted 
assistance  or  advice,  or  hoped  she  would  intercede  with  the 
Colonel  for  something  more  peculiarly  in  his  way,  he  hav- 
ing great  influence  with  the  colonial  government. 

"  At  the  usual  hour  her  dinner  party  assembled,  which 
was  generally  a  large  one  ;  and  here  I  must  digress  from 
the  detail  of  the  day  to  observe  that,  looking  up  as  I  al- 
ways did  to  Madame  with  admiring  veneration,  and  having 
always  heard  her  mentioned  with  unqualified  applause,  I 
look  often  back  to  think  what  defects  or  faults  she  could 
possibly  have  to  rank  with  the  sons  and  daughters  of  imper- 
fection inhabiting  this  transitory  scene  of  existence,  well 
knowing,  from  subsequent  observation  of  life,  that  error  is 
the  unavoidable  portion  of  humanity.  Yet  of  this  truism, 
to  which  every  one  will  readily  subscribe,  I  can  recollect  no 
proof  in  my  friend's  conduct,  unless  the  luxury  of  her  table 
might  be  produced  to  confirm  it.     Yet  this,  after  all,  was 


1755]  PICTURES     OF     SOCIAL     LIFE.  87 

but  comparative  luxury.  There  was  more  choice  and  se- 
lection, and  perhaps  more  abundance  at  her  table  than  at 
those  of  the  other  primitive  inhabitants,  yet  how  simple 
were  her  repasts  compared  with  those  which  the  luxury 
of  the  higher  ranks  of  this  country  offer  to  provoke  the 
sated  appetite.  Her  dinner  party  generally  consisted  of 
some  of  her  intimate  friends  or  near  relations  ;  her  adopted 
children,  who  were  inmates  for  the  time  being  ;  and  stran- 
gers, sometimes  invited  merely  as  friendly  travelers,  on  the 
score  of  hospitality,  but  often  welcomed  for  some  time  as 
stationary  visitors,  on  account  of  worth  or  talents,  that 
gave  value  to  their  society  ;  and  lastly,  military  guests,  se- 
lected with  some  discrimination  on  account  of  the  young 
friends,  who  they  wished  not  only  to  protect,  but  cultivate 
by  an  improving  association.  Conversation  here  was  always 
rational,  generally  instructive  and  often  cheerful. 

"  The  afternoon  frequently  brought  with  it  a  new  set 
of  guests.  Tea  was  always  drank  early  here,  and,  as  I  have 
formerly  observed,  was  attended  with  so  many  petty  lux- 
uries of  pastry,  confectionery,  etc.,  that  it  might  well  be 
accounted  a  meal  by  those  whose  early  and  frugal  dinners 
had  so  long  gone  by.  In  Albany  it  was  customary,  after 
the  heat  of  the  day  was  past,  for  young  people  to  go  in 
parties  of  three  or  four,  in  open  carriages,  to  drink  tea  at 
an  hour  or  two's  drive  from  home.  The  receiving  and  en- 
tertaining of  this  sort  of  company,  generally,  was  the  pro- 
vince of  the  younger  part  of  the  family,  and  of  those, 
many  came,  in  summer  evenings,  to  the  Flats,  when  tea, 
which  was  very  early,  was  over.  The  young  people,  and 
those  who  were  older,  took  their  differing  walks,  while 
Madame  sat  in  her  portico,  engaged  in  what  might  com- 
paratively be  called  light  reading — essays,  biography,  poe- 
try, etc.,  till  the  younger  party  set  out  on  their  return 


88  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [>Et.  22. 

home,  and  her  domestic  friends  rejoined  her  in  her  portico, 
where,  in  warm  evenings,  a  slight  repast  was  sometimes 
brought ;  but  they  more  frequently  shared  the  last  and 
most  truly  social  meal  within.  Winter  made  little  differ- 
ence in  her  mode  of  occupying  her  time.  She  then  always 
retired  to  her  closet  to  read  at  stated  periods. 

"  The  hospitalities  of  this  family  were  so  far  beyond 
their  apparent  income  that  all  strangers  were  astonished 
at  them.  To  account  for  this  it  must  be  observed  that,  in 
the  first  place,  there  was  perhaps  scarce  an  instance  of  a 
family  possessing  such  uncommonly  well-trained,  active, 
and  diligent  slaves  as  that  which  I  describe.  The  set  that 
were  staid  servants  when  they  were  married  had  some  of 
them  died  off  by  the  time  I  knew  the  family,  but  the  prin- 
cipal roots,  from  whence  the  many  branches  then  flourish- 
ing sprung,  yet  remained.  There  were  two  women  who  had 
come  originally  from  Africa  while  very  young.  They  were 
most  excellent  servants,  and  the  mothers  or  grandmothers 
of  the  whole  set,  except  one  white  wooled  negro-man,  who, 
in  my  time,  sat  by  the  chimney  and  made  shoes  for  all  the 
rest. 

"  The  great  pride  and  happiness  of  these  sable  matrons 
was  to  bring  up  their  children  to  dexterity,  diligence,  and 
obedience,  Diana  being  determined  that  Maria's  children 
should  not  excel  hers  in  any  quality  which  was  a  recom- 
mendation to  favor ;  and  Maria  equally  resolved  that  hei 
brood,  in  the  race  of  excellence,  should  outstrip  Diana's 
Never  was  a  more  fervent  competition.  That  of  Phillis 
and  Brunetta,  in  the  Spectator,  was  a  trifle  to  it,  and  it 
was  extremely  difficult  to  decide  on  their  respective  merits; 
for  though  Maria's  son  Prince  cut  down  wood  with  more 
dexterity  and  dispatch  than  any  one  in  the  province,  the 
mighty  Caesar,  son  of  Diana,  cut  down  wheat  and  thrashed 


1755.J  A    MODEL     HOUSEHOLD.  89 

it  better  than  he.  His  sister  Betty,  who,  to  her  misfortune, 
was  a  beauty  of  her  kind,  and  possessed  wit  equal  to  her 
beauty,  was  the  best  seamstress  and  laundress  by  far  I  have 
ever  known  ;  and  the  plain,  unpretending  Kachel,  sister  to 
Prince,  wife  to  Titus,  alias  Tyte,  and  head  cook,  dressed 
dinners  that  might  have  pleased  Apicius.  I  record  my 
humble  friends  by  their  real  names  because  they  allowedly 
stood  at  the  head  of  their  own  class,  and  distinction  of 
every  kind  should  be  respected. 

"Of  the  inferior  personages  in  this  drama  I  have  been 
characterizing  it  would  be  tedious  to  tell  ;  suffice  it  that, 
besides  filling  up  all  the  lower  departments  of  the  house- 
hold, and  cultivating  to  the  highest  advantage  a  most  ex- 
tensive farm,  there  was  a  thorough-bred  carpenter  and 
shoemaker,  and  a  universal  genius  who  made  canoes,  nets, 
and  paddles,  shod  horses,  mended  implements  of  husbandry, 
managed  the  fishing,  in  itself  no  small  department,  reared 
hemp  and  tobacco,  made  cider  and  tended  wild  horses,  as 
they  call  them,  which  it  was  his  province  to  "break."  For 
every  branch  of  domestic  economy  there  was  a  person  al- 
lotted— educated  for  the  purpose  ;  and  this  society  was 
kept  immaculate  in  the  same  way  that  the  Quakers  pre- 
served the  rectitude  of  theirs — and  indeed  in  the  only  way 
that  any  community  can  be  preserved  from  corruption — 
when  a  member  showed  symptoms  of  degeneracy  he  was 
immediately  expelled,  or,  in  other  words  more  suitable  to 
this  case,  sold. 

"  The  habit  of  living  together  under  the  same  mild 
though  regular  government  produced  a  general  cordiality 
and  affection  among  all  the  members  of  the  family,  who 
were  truly  ruled  by  the  law  of  love  ;  and  even  those  who 
occasionally  differed  about  trifles  had  an  unconscious  at- 
tachment to  each  other,  which  showed  itself  on  all  emer- 


90  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  22. 

gencies.  Treated  themselves  with  care  and  gentleness,  they 
were  careful  and  kind  with  regard  to  the  only  inferiors  and 
dependents  they  had,  the  domestic  animals.  The  superior 
personages  in  the  family  had  always  some  good  property  to 
mention  or  good  saying  to  repeat  of  those  whom  they  cher- 
ished into  attachment  and  exalted  into  intelligence  ;  while 
they,  in  their  turn,  improved  the  sagacity  of  their  subject 
animals  by  caressing  and  talking  to  them.  Let  no  one 
laugh  at  this,  for  whenever  a  man  is  at  ease  and  unsophis- 
ticated, when  his  native  humanity  is  not  extinguished  by 
want  or  chilled  by  oppression,  it  overflows  to  inferior  beings 
and  improves  their  instincts  to  a  degree  incredible  to  those 
who  have  not  witnessed  it. 

"  The  Princes  and  Caesars  of  the  Flats  had  as  much  to 
tell  of  the  sagacity  and  attachments  of  the  animals  as  their 
mistress  related  of  their  own.  *  *  *  Each  negro  was  in- 
dulged with  his  raccoon,  his  gray  squirrel  or  muskrat,  or 
perhaps  his  beaver,  which  he  tamed  and  attached  to  him- 
self by  daily  feeding  and  caressing  him  in  the  farm-yard 
One  was  sure  about  all  such  houses  to  find  these  animals, 
in  which  their  masters  took  the  highest  pleasure.  All 
these  small  features  of  human  nature  must  not  be  despised 
for  their  minuteness.  To  a  good  mind  they  afford  conso- 
lation."* 

Such  was  the  pattern  of  a  home  after  which  Philip 
Schuyler  and  his  wife  arranged  their  own,  though  on  a  less 
extensive  scale  at  first,  for  his  fine  mansion,  yet  standing 
at  the  head  of  Schuyler  street,  in  Albany,  where  hospital- 
ity was  dispensed  to  friends  and  strangers  with  almost 
princely  plenitude  for  forty  years,  wras  not  erected  until 
about  1765.  As  the  elder  son  he  came  into  possession  of 
the  real  estate  of  his  father  when  he  attained  his  majority 

*  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady. 


1755.]  NOBLE     GENEROSITY.  91 

in  the  autumn  of  1754,  and  his  residence,  during  the  earlier 
years  of  his  married  life,  was  in  the  family  mansion  at  Al- 
bany, with  his  mother  and  sister.  The  property  which  he 
received  by  entail  was  large,  but  his  nature  was  too  noble 
to  be  governed  by  the  selfishness  which  the  laws  of  primo- 
geniture allowed  and  which  universal  practice  sanctioned, 
and  he  generously  shared  his  patrimony  with  his  brothers 
and  sister.  This  act  was  more  remarkable  because  his  life 
and  experience  were  intimately  connected  with  the  aristo- 
cracy of  the  province,  who  held  the  largest  landed  estates 
in  the  country.  With  these  the  justice  of  primogeniture 
laws  was  never  questioned,  nor  their  privileges  ever  refused 
by  the  fortunate  elder  son  ;  and  a  relinquishment  of  these 
privileges  and  advantages  for  the  benefit  of  others  was  a 
thing  unknown.  But  Philip  Schuyler  was  innately  just, 
noble  and  generous,  and  his  act  was  nothing  but  a  natural 
manifestation  of  these  qualities.  His  sense  of  right  and 
the  fraternal  yearnings  of  his  spirit  would  have  been  out- 
raged by  any  other  course  ;  and  so,  governed  by  his  natural 
impulses,  and  with  a  beautiful  loyalty  to  conscience  which 
no  pecuniary  advantages  could  bribe,  he  divided  his  houses 
and  lands,  and  gave  to  each  of  his  mother's  children  an 
equal  share  with  himself. 

The  nuptials  of  Philip  Schuyler,  like  those  of  his  great 
compatriot  and  friend,  George  Washington,  were  celebrated 
at  the  close  of  the  most  active  duties  of  a  campaign  in 
which  he  had  been  engaged.  The  treaty  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
had  secured  nothing  but  a  hollow  truce  for  the  colonists. 
Peace  reigned  in  Europe,  but  war  was  again  raging  between 
the  English  and  provincials  on  one  side  and  the  French  and 
Indians  on  the  other,  in  the  forests  of  America.  Blood  had 
already  flowed  profusely  near  the  banks  of  the  Mononga- 
hela  and  of  Lake  George  ;  and  the  shifting  scenes  of  poli- 


92  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JET.  22. 

tical  events  in  the  New  World,  and  especially  in  the 
province  of  New  York  were  now  grand  and  imposing,  for 
the  magnificent  drama  of  the  French  and  Indian  War — ■ 
the  memorable  Seven  Years  War,  performed  upon  two 
continents  and  the  stormy  ocean  that  separated  them — was 
in  full  progress. 

Kightly  to  understand  that  drama,  we  must  become  fa- 
miliar with  the  leading  facts  in  the  history  of  its  rehearsals 
in  the  colonies,  and  view,  if  only  in  hurried  glances,  the 
progress  of  its  preparations  until  the  curtain  was  lifted  and 
the  actors  appeared  in  character  before  the  great  audience 
of  nations.  To  do  this  let  us  go  behind  the  scenes  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  in  the  green  room  of  retrospection  hold  familiar 
conversation  with  individual  players.  With  the  acts  of 
the  drama  that  were  performed  in  the  Old  World  we  need 
have  little  to  do  except  to  observe  the  links  of  their  con- 
nection with  the  plot ;  for  Philip  Schuyler,  whose  life  and 
times  we  are  delineating,  and  who  now,  for  the  first  time, 
appeared  as  a  public  actor,  had  no  part  in  transatlantic 
scenes.  His  sphere  of  action  and  influence  was  in  the 
colony  in  which  himself  and  family  for  three  generations 
had  lived.  From  the  colonial  governor  he  received  his 
first  commission  as  a  military  officer,  and  among  colonial 
troops  he  first  drew  his  sword  in  defense  of  his  country  and 
the  honor  of  the  British  realm. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  as  we  have  observed, 
was  practically  only  a  contract  for  a  truce.  The  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  made  in  1713,  guaranteed  to  England  all  Nova 
Scotia  included  in  ancient  Acadie,  and  to  the  Five  Na- 
tions of  Indians,  subject  to  Great  Britain,  the  peaceable 
enjoyment  of  all  their  well-defined  rights  and  privileges. 
But  so  indefinite  were  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  in  1748,  notwithstanding  the  treaty  of  1713  was 
held  as  its  basis,  the  real  difficulties  which  gave  rise  to  the 
last  war  remained  unsettled.  The  agreement  that  bound- 
aries should  remain  as  before  the  war  was  so  vague  in 
terms,  considering  the  fact  that  for  almost  thirty  years 
those  very  boundaries  had  been  a  subject  for  contention, 
that  interpretation  was  difficult.  As  early  as  1721,  France 
had  erected  Fort  St.  Frederick  on  Crown  Point,  within 
territory  always  claimed  by  Great  Britain  and  the  Five 
Nations  ;  and  before  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  in  1748,  the  French  had  constructed  almost 
twenty  forts  and  several  stockades  and  trading  places  on 
soil  claimed  by  the  British  crown.  France,  at  that  time, 
was  putting  forth  all  her  energies  in  carrying  forward 
schemes  of  aggrandizement  at  various  points  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, the  East  and  West  Indies,  and  in  North  Amer- 
ica. She  doubtless  intended  the  peace  to  be  only  a  truce, 
so  that  whilst  England  was  inactive  she  might  strike  deeper 
the  roots  of  her  dominion,  especially  in  the  New  World,  for 


94  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  21. 

her  Jesuit  priests,  with  the  banner  of  the  cross  in  one  hand 
and  the  truncheon  of  secular  enterprises  in  the  other,  had 
penetrated  the  wonderful  vallies  of  the  Great  West,  and 
revealed  their  boundless  wealth  to  their  nation. 

At  the  time  we  are  considering  the  French  in  America 
were  not  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  in  number,  and 
scattered  in  trading  settlements  for  nearly  a  thousand  miles 
aiong  the  St.  Lawrence  and  our  immense  lakes,  and  also  at 
points  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  and  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  ;  whilst  the  English  numbered  more  than  a  mil- 
lion, and  occupied  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  in  the  form  of 
agricultural  communities,  more  than  a  thousand  miles  in  a 
line  eastward  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  far  north- 
ward toward  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  the  St.  Mary's  in 
Florida  to  the  Penobscot  in  Maine. 

The  trading  posts  and  missionary  stations  of  the  French, 
deep  in  the  wilderness,  at  first  attracted  very  little  atten- 
tion, but  when,  after  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  in  1745, 
they  built  strong  vessels  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario,  and 
commenced  the  erection  of  a  cordon  of  fortifications  more 
than  sixty  in  number  between  Montreal  and  New  Orleans, 
the  English  perceived  the  necessity  of  arousing  to  imme- 
diate and  vigorous  opposition.  Disputes  soon  arose,  and 
these  resulted  in  hostile  action.  The  territorial  question 
was  revived,  and  both  parties  appeared  to  be  in  a  mood  to 
settle  it  by  a  passage  at  arms.  A  peaceful  company  of 
speculators  brought  the  matter  to  issue  in  this  wise  : 

In  1749  King  George  of  England  conveyed,  by  grant, 
six  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  southeast  bank 
of  the  Ohio  river  to  an  association  composed  of  London 
merchants  and  Virginia  speculators,  giving  them,  at  the 
same  time,  the  exclusive  privilege  of  trafficking  with  the 
Indians.     The  association  was  called  The  Ohio  Company, 


1747.]  WASHINGTON    S     MISSION.  95 

and,  anxious  to  bring  their  domain  into  market,  they  sent 
surveyors  to  explore  and  settle  the  boundaries  of  it.  At 
the  same  time  English  traders  penetrated  the  country 
northward  of  the  Ohio,  as  far  as  the  Miami  villages,  to 
traffic  with  the  willing  Indians.  The  jealousy  of  the  French 
traders  was  aroused,  and  at  Piqua,  an  Indian  village,  a 
skirmish  ensued  between  traders  of  the  two  nationalities, 
when  the  first  blood  was  shed  in  the  cruel  war  that  ensued. 

In  1753,  the  governor  of  Canada  detached  twelve  hun- 
dred French  soldiers  to  occupy  the  Ohio  valley,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  English.  They  built  a  fort,  first  on  the  south 
shore  of  Lake  Erie,  near  the  village  of  that  name,  then  on 
the  Venango  (French  Creek),  near  the  present  village  of 
Waterford,  and  a  third  at  the  junction  of  the  Alleghany 
river  and  French  Creek,  at  the  village  of  Franklin.  The 
Ohio  Company  complained  of  this  intrusion,  and  as  their 
land  lay  within  the  chartered  limits  of  Virginia,  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  that  province,  Kobert  Dinwiddie,  felt 
called  upon  to  espouse  their  cause.  He  resolved  to  first  try 
diplomacy,  and  accordingly,  in  the  autumn  of  1753,  he 
sent  George  Washington,  then  a  young  man  less  than 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  to  confer  with  Le  Gardeur  de  St. 
Pierre,  the  commander  of  the  French  troops,  and  to  present 
to  him  a  letter  of  remonstrance  against  his  occupancy  of 
English  soil. 

It  was  late  in  autumn  when  Washington,  with  only 
two  or  three  attendants,  departed  upon  his  perilous  journey 
of  full  four  hundred  miles  towards  Lake  Erie,  though  a 
dark  wilderness  and  many  tribes  of  savage  men.  Ice,  snow, 
floods,  all  lay  in  his  path,  yet  he  accomplished  his  under- 
taking to  the  satisfaction  of  those  who  sent  him.  His 
mission,  however,  seemed  unfruitful.  St.  Pierre  received 
him  courteously,  treated  him  hospitably  four  or  five  days, 


96  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  21. 

and  then  gave  him  a  written  answer  to  Dinwiddle  in  a 
sealed  envelope.  Washington  had  heard  the  important 
fact  of  the  hostile  designs  of  the  French  from  the  lips  of 
officers  made  incautious  by  a  free  use  of  wine,  and  with 
this  information,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  strength  and  po- 
sition of  the  French  posts,  he  returned  to  Williamsburg 
with  St.  Pierre's  letter  to  Dinwiddie.  That  letter  simply 
informed  the  Virginia  magistrate  that  the  commander  of 
the  French  was  acting  under  the  orders  of  the  Marquis  Du 
Quesne,  the  governor-general  of  Canada,  and  that  he  should 
not  withdraw  his  troops  from  the  Ohio  country,  as  Dinwid- 
die demanded. 

Dinwiddie  was  a  wrong-headed,  avaricious  Scotchman, 
and  had  already  made  the  Virginians  restive  under  royal 
rule.  He  was  concerned  in  the  Ohio  Company,  and  resolved 
to  make  war  upon  the  French  intruders,  but  when  he  evoked 
the  civil  aid  of  the  province,  in  giving  sanction  to  an  expe- 
dition and  providing  means  for  its  support,  he  found  pow- 
erful opposition  in  the  Legislature  and  among  the  people. 
Their  patriotism  was  appealed  to,  and  at  length  the  Legis- 
lature voted  fiftv  thousand  dollars  for  the  support  of  troops 
enlisted  for  an  expedition.  The  other  colonies  were  invited 
to  cooperate,  but  none  responded  affirmatively  except  North 
Carolina,  from  whose  bosom,  on  the  recommendation  of  her 
Legislature,  four  hundred  volunteers  were  soon  on  their  way 
toward  Winchester.  A  few  volunteers  from  South  Caro- 
lina and  New  York  hastened  toward  the  seat  of  war,  while 
in  Virginia  a  regiment  of  six  hundred  men  was  formed,  with 
ColonelJoshua  Fry  as  commander,  and  Major  Washington 
as  his  lieutenant.  These  rendezvoused  at  Alexandria,  and, 
with  Washington  at  the  head  of  the  advanced  corps, 
marched  toward  the  Ohio  at  the  beginning  of  April,  1753. 

In  the  meantime  the  Ohio  Company  had  sent  thirty 


1154.]  THE     FRENCH     AND    INDIAN    WAR.  97 

men  to  construct  a  fort  at  the  junction  of  the  Alleghany 
and  Monongahela  rivers.  They  were  attacked  and  driven 
away  by  some  French  troops,  who  completed  the  fortifica- 
tion and  named  it  Du  Quesne,  in  honor  of  the  governor  of 
Canada.  Washington  was  within  forty  miles  of  that  point, 
with  the  advanced  guard,  when  intelligence  of  the  event 
reached  him,  with  the  information  that  a  strong  force  of 
the  enemy  were  on  their  way  to  intercept  him.  He  fell 
back  to  a  place  called  the  Great  Meadows,  and  there  erected 
a  stockade,  which  he  named  Fort  Necessity.  While  it  was 
in  progress  he  sent  out  a  party  to  attack  the  advanced 
guard  of  the  French.  They  were  successful.  At  the  dead 
of  night  the  Virginians  fell  upon  the  sleeping  Frenchmen, 
and  Jumonville,  their  commander,  and  nine  of  his  men  were 
slain.  0f  fifty  who  formed  the  detachment  only  fifteen 
escaped. 

Two  days  after  this  event  Colonel  Fry  died,  and  the 
command  of  the  expedition  fell  upon  young  Washington. 
With  about  four  hundred  men  he  proceeded  toward  Fort 
Du  Quesne.  He  had  not  advanced  far  when  he  was  in- 
formed that  a  brother  of  the  slain  Jumonville,  with  at 
least  a  thousand  Indians  and  some  Frenchmen  were  march- 
ing to  avenge  the  death  of  his  kinsman.  Washington  im- 
mediately fell  back  to  Fort  Necesssity,  where  he  was  at- 
tacked by  fifteen  hundred  foes.  After  a  conflict  of  ten 
hours  he  was  compelled  to  capitulate,  on  the  4th  of  July, 
but  on  honorable  terms,  and  he  and  his  men  returned  to 
Virginia.  Thus  was  inaugurated  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  which  afterward  raged  vigorously  in  northern  New 
York. 

While  these  military  operations  were  in  progress,  a  civil 
movement  of  great  importance  was  seen  at  Albany,  the 
residence  of  Philip  Schuyler.     It  was  the  meeting  of  the 


98  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  21. 

representatives  of  seven  of  the  Anglo-American  colonies, 
to  consult  upon  a  plan  for  a  federal  union,  so  as  to  oppose 
a  strong  front  to  the  common  enemy  seated  upon  the  St.. 
Lawrence  and  the  lakes.  This  was  really  the  primal  object 
of  the  members  of  the  convention  ;  a  secondary  and  im- 
portant one  was  to  strengthen  the  bond  between  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  Six  Nations. 

The  necessity  for  such  union,  and  such  friendship  with 
the  Indians,  had  been  felt  for  some  time,  yet  the  home  gov- 
ernment, when  it  proposed  the  convention  by  a  circular 
letter  addressed  by  Lord  Holderness  to  all  the  colonies,  did 
not  contemplate  a  permanent  political  union  ;  only  a  tem- 
porary confederation  in  time  of  danger  against  a  menacing 
enemy.  In  that  letter  his  lordship  declared  the  chief  de- 
sign of  the  convention  to  be  the  renewal  of  treaties  with 
the  Six  Nations. 

Only  seven  of  the  thirteen  colonies  responded  to  the 
call,  namely,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecti- 
cut, New  York,  Khode  Island,  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland. 
Delegates  from  these  provinces  assembled  at  the  old  City 
Hall,  in  Albany,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1754,  and  the  con- 
vention was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  James  De 
Lancey,  the  lieutenant  governor  of  New  York,  as  their 
president.*  Chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations  had  come  with 
tardy  steps,  and  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  in  attend- 
ance.    Hendrick,  the  great  Mohawk  warrior,  who  was  slain 

*  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  commissioners  from  the  several 
States :  New  York. — James  De  Lancey,  Joseph  Murray,  William  Johnson, 
John  Chambers,  William  Smith.  Massachusetts. — Samuel  Welles,  John  Chan- 
dler, Thomas  Hutchinson,  Oliver  Partridge,  John  Worthington.  New  Hamp- 
shire.— Theodore  Atkinson,  Richard  Wibird,  Mesheck  Weare,  Henry  Sher- 
burne. Connecticut. — William  Pitkin,  Roger  Wolcott,  Elisha  Williams.  Rhode 
Island. — Stephen  Hopkins,  Martin  Howard.  Pennsylvania. — John  Penn, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Richard  Peters,  Isaac  Norris.  Maryland. — Benjamin 
Tasker,  Benjamin  Barnes. 


1754.]  AN     INDIAN     ORATOR.  99 

in  battle  near  Lake  George  the  following  year,  was  their 
principal  speaker. 

De  Lancey  opened  the  business  of  the  convention  by  a 
speech  to  the  Indians,  interpreted  by  Colonel  Myndert 
Schuyler,  one  of  the  commissioners,  and  was  responded  to 
by  Hendrick.  That  powerful,  white-haired  warrior,  a  noble 
specimen  of  his  race,  arose  with  grave  mien,  and  advancing 
a  few  steps,  held  up  the  chain  belt  which  had  been  given 
him  by  the  lieutenant-governor  and  the  chief  magistrates 
of  other  colonies,  and  said  :  "  We  return  you  all  our 
grateful  acknowledgments  for  renewing  and  brightening 
the  covenant  chain.  We  will  take  this  belt  to  Onondaga, 
[the  federal  capital  of  the  Six  Nations,]  where  our  council- 
fire  always  burns,  and  keep  it  so  securely  that  neither 
thunder  nor  lightning  shall  break  it.  There  we  will  con- 
sult over  it,  and  we  hope  when  you  show  this  belt  again, 
we  shall  give  you  reason  to  rejoice  at  it.  In  the  meantime 
we  desire  that  you  will  strengthen  yourselves,  and  bring  as 
many  into  this  covenant  chain  as  you  possibly  can."  Then, 
his  eyes  flashing  indignation  at  the  remembrance  of  the 
past,  when  the  French  swept  down  the  Hudson  valley  to 
Saratoga,  and  there  were  no  forts  to  impede  their  progress, 
he  said : 

"  You  desired  us  to  open  our  minds  and  hearts  to  you. 
You  have  asked  us  the  reason  of  our  living  in  this  dis- 
persed manner.  The  reason  is,  your  neglecting  us  these 
three  years  past."  Then  casting  a  stick  behind  him,  he 
continued  :  "  You  have  thus  thrown  us  behind  your  back 
and  disregarded  us,  whereas  the  French  are  a  subtle  and 
vigilant  people,  ever  using  their  utmost  endeavors  to  seduce 
and  bring  our  people  over  to  them.  Look  at  the  French  I 
They  are  men;  they  are  fortifying  everywhere.  But,  we 
are  ashamed  to  say  it,  you  are  like  ivomen,  bare  and  open, 


100  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [.Et.  21. 

without  any  fortifications.  It  is  but  one  step  from  Canada 
hither,  and  the  French  may  easily  come  and  turn  you  out 
of  doors." 

Through  this  neglect  during  the  political  strife  in  the 
province,  that  had  raged  violently  for  several  years,  the 
Six  Nations  had  become  extensively  disaffected.  Full  one 
half  of  the  Onondagas  had  withdrawn  and  joined  a  settle- 
ment near  the  site  of  Ogdensburgh,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Oswegatchie,  under  the  protection  of  the  guns  of  the  old 
French  fort  Presentation.  Even  some  of  the  Mohawks 
uttered  loud  complaints,  but  through  the  influence  of  Hen- 
drick,  and  one  or  two  others,  they  were  retained  as  fast 
friends  of  the  English. 

While  the  business  of  the  convention  was  in  progress, 
that  body,  responding  to  an  invitation  of  the  Massachusetts 
delegates,  took  into  consideration  the  expediency  of  form- 
ing a  federative  union  of  the  colonies.  The  subject  was 
referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of  one  member  of  each 
delegation  present.*  Several  plans  were  proposed,  when 
Dr.  Franklin,  whose  fertile  mind  had  conceived  the  neces- 
sity of  a  union  and  the  form  of  a  confederation,  arose  and 
submitted  a  draft  of  a  scheme  for  the  consideration  of  the 
convention.  The  subject  was  debated  "hand  in  hand." 
Franklin  observed,  "  with  the  Indian  business,  daily,  for 
twelve  consecutive  days ;"  and  at  length  a  report,  as  sub- 
stantially drawn  by  him,  was  adopted,  the  Connecticut 
delegates  alone  dissenting. 

Franklin's  plan  of  union,  having,  in  many  respects,  a 
remarkable  similarity  to  the  Federal  Constitution  formed 
by  himself  and  others  thirty-three  years  afterward,  proposed 

*  The  committee  consisted  of  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts,  Atkinson  of 
New  Hampshire,  Pitkin  of  Connecticut,  Hopkins  of  Rlwde  Island,  Smith  of 
New  York,  Franklia  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Tasker  of  Maryland. 


1754]  PROPOSED     F  E*D  E  R  AL"    TT  N  10  N,  101 

a  grand  council  of  forty-eight  members — seven  from  Vir- 
ginia, seven  from  Massachusetts,  six  from  Pennsylvania, 
five  from  Connecticut,  four  each  from  New  York,  Mary- 
land, and  the  two  Carolinas,  three  from  New  Jersey,  and 
two  each  from  New  Hampshire  and  Khode  Island.  The 
number  of  forty-eight  was  to  remain  fixed,  no  colony  to  have 
more  than  seven  nor  less  than  two  members  ;  but  the  ap- 
portionment to  vary  within  those  limits,  with  the  rates  of 
contribution.  This  council  was  to  have  the  general  man- 
agement of  civil  and  military  affairs.  It  was  to  have  con- 
trol of  the  armies,  the  apportionment  of  men  and  money, 
and  to  enact  general  laws  in  conformity  with  the  British 
Constitution,  and  not  in  contravention  of  statutes  passed 
by  the  imperial  Parliament.  It  was  to  have  for  its  head  a 
president  general,  appointed  by  the  crown,  to  possess  a  ne- 
gative or  veto  power  on  all  acts  of  the  council,  and  to  have, 
with  the  advice  of  the  council,  the  appointment  of  all  mil- 
itary officers  and  the  entire  management  of  Indian  affairs. 
Civil  officers  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  council,  with  the 
consent  of  the  president. * 

The  seat  of  the  proposed  federal  government  was  to  be 
Philadelphia,  then  a  central  city  in  the  colonies,  and  where, 
it  was  alleged,  the  representatives  would  be  "well  and 
cheaply  accommodated."  It  was  also  suggested  that  if  the 
whole  journey  to  the  seat  of  government  had  to  be  performed 
on  horseback,  (much  of  it  could  be  accomplished  by  water,) 
"the  most  distant  members,  namely,  the  two  from  New 
Hampshire  and  from  South  Carolina,  might  probably  ren- 
der themselves  at  Philadelphia  in  fifteen  or  twenty  days!"-\ 

The  plan  of  union  was  doomed  to  a  singular  fate. 
Franklin  was  greeted  at  New  York,  when  he  went  down 

*  Pitkin's  Political  and  Civil  History  of  the  United  States,  i.  143. 
•J-  Life  and  Writings  of  Franklin,  iii.  42. 


102         ,  c  fS'I'LR     SCftUYLEE.  [Mr.  21. 

the  Hudson  from  the  council  at  Albany,  with  every  demon- 
stration of  joy  as  the  mover  of  American  union,  but  the 
several  colonial  assemblies,  viewing  it  with  the  jealous  eye 
that  watched  over  the  individual  liberties  of  the  colonies, 
rejected  it  as  too  aristocratic — too  much  prerogative  in  it 
— partaking  too  largely  of  the  centralization  of  power  ; 
while  the  Lords  of  Trade,  to  whom  it  was  submitted,  did 
not  approve  of  it  nor  recommend  it  to  the  King,  because  it 
was  too  democratic.  Perhaps  some  minds  among  them 
may  have  been  sagacious  enough  to  perceive  the  danger  it 
might  work  to  the  integrity  of  the  British  realm. 

The  Board  of  Trade  had  already  proposed  a  plan  of 
their  own  : — a  grand  assembly  of  colonial  governors  and 
certain  select  members  of  their  several  councils,  with  power 
to  draw  on  the  British  treasury,  the  sums  thus  drawn  to 
be  reimbursed  by  taxes  imposed  in  the  colonies  by  the  Bri- 
tish Parliament.  This  proposition  found  no  favor  with  the 
colonists,  and  Massachusetts  gave  her  agent  in  England 
special  instructions  "  to  oppose  everything  that  should  have 
the  remotest  tendency  to  raise  a  revenue  in  America  for 
any  public  use  or  services  of  government." 

The  capacious  mind  of  Franklin  conceived,  at  this  time, 
an  empire  more  magnificent  than  the  one  contemplated  in 
the  union  of  the  then  existing  colonies.  The  convention 
ordered  the  committee  charged  with  the  preparation  of  a 
plan  of  union,  to  report  a  representation  of  the  affairs 
of  the  colonies.  This  able  paper,  it  is  believed,  was  drawn 
by  Franklin,  for  it  embodies  the  ideas  expressed  by  him  in 
a  communication  made  to  Governor  Pownall  not  many 
years  afterward.  It  proposed  "  that  the  bounds  of  those 
colonies  which  extend  to  the  South  Sea,  (the  Pacific 
Ocean,)  be  contracted  and  limited  by  the  Alleghany  or  Ap- 
palachian mountains,  and  that  measures  be  taken  for  set- 


1754.]  IMPENDING     WAR.  103 

tling,  from  time  to  time,  colonies  of  his  Majesty's  Protest- 
ant subjects  westward  of  said  mountains,  in  convenient 
cantons  to  be  assigned  for  that  purpose."  But  the  war 
just  kindling  prevented,  for  the  time,  putting  into  execu- 
tion Franklin's  grand  idea  of  a  federal  and  expanding 
Union. 

The  convention  at  Albany  had  just  closed  its  labors, 
when  a  cry  for  help  was  raised  along  the  New  England 
frontier.  The  Indians,  incited  by  the  French,  commenced 
murderous  depredations  there;  and  those  in  the  Ohio  coun- 
try, inflamed  by  French  emissaries,  lifted  the  hatchet  and 
lighted  the  brand  for  a  war  of  extermination  against  the 
advancing  English  settlements.  Clouds  of  danger  were 
thickening  on  every  hand,  and  yet  some  of  the  colonies 
were  tardy  in  their  preparations  for  the  impending  storm. 
Governor  Shirley,  of  Massachusetts,  put  forth  all  his  ener- 
gies and  accomplished  much,  while  in  Virginia  disputes 
about  precedence  between  the  regimental  officers  and  the 
captains  of  independent  companies  ran  high,  and  in  a  de- 
gree paralyzed  efforts  for  the  public  good  ;  and  Governor 
Dinwiddie  made  matters  worse  by  his  ignorance  and  obsti- 
nacy. The  assembly  of  New  York,  awake  to  the  perils 
that  threatened,  voted  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
military  service,  and  the  authorities  of  Maryland  voted 
thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  same.  The  British  govern- 
ment sent  over  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  use  of  the 
colonies,  and,  to  allay  discontents,  appointed  Governor 
Sharpe,  of  Maryland,  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  pro- 
vincial troops.  Yet  the  year  1754  closed  without  any  ef- 
ficient preparations  for  a  conflict  with  the  French. 

The  British  government,  meanwhile,  had  perceived  that 
a  very  severe  contest  was  about  to  be  commenced  between 
their  colonists  in  America  and  those  of  the  French,  and  re- 


104  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.12. 

solved  to  extend  aid  to  the  former,  not  withstanding  the  two 
nations  were  at  peace.  When  the  British  ministry  called  the 
attention  of  the  French  court  to  transactions  in  America,  the 
latter  expressed  the  most  pacific  intentions  and  promises  for 
the  future,  while  its  actions  were  in  direct  opposition  to  its 
professions.  The  British  resolved  no  longer  to  be  diverted 
by  this  duplicity,  and  at  the  close  of  1754,  sent  General 
Edward  Braddock,  a  brave  but  haughty  and  self-sufficient 
Irish  officer,  with  two  regiments,  commanded  by  Colonels 
Halkett  and  Dunbar,  to  assume  the  chief  command  in 
America  and  cooperate  with  the  provincials  as  circum- 
stances might  require.  He  arrived  in  the  Chesapeake  in 
February,  1755,  and,  at  his  request,  six  of  the  colonial 
governors  met  him  in  convention  at  Alexandria,  in  April 
following,  to  assist  in  arranging  a  vigorous  campaign 
against  the  French.** 

Three  separate  expeditions  were  planned — one  against 
Fort  Du  Quesne,  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  to  be  led  by 
Braddock  in  person  ;  a  second  against  fort  Niagara,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Niagara  river,  and  Fort  Frontenac  (now 
Kingston),  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario,  to  be  commanded 
by  Governor  Shirley  ;  and  a  third  against  Fort  St.  Fred- 
erick, at  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain,  under  General 
William  Johnson,  of  the  Mohawk  region,  where  he  had  ac- 
quired great  ascendancy  over  the  more  eastern  nations  of 
the  Iroquois  confederacy.  A  fourth  expedition  had  already 
been  arranged  by  Governor  Shirley,  and  Governor  Law- 
rence, of  Nova  Scotia,  designed  to  drive  the  French  out  of 
that  province  and  all  other  portions  of  Acadie.     The  im- 

*  Shirley,  of  Massachusetts ;  Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia ;  Do  Lancey,  of  New 
York ;  Sharpe,  of  Maryland ;  Morris,  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  Dobbs,  of  North 
Carolina.  Admiral  Keppel,  commander  of  the  British  fleet  that  bore  Brad- 
dock's  thousand  men  to  America,  was  also  present. 


1755.]  THE     NEW     YORK     GOVERNMENT.  105 

perial  government  sanctioned  these  extensive  preparations, 
and  when  the  flowers  first  bloomed  upon  the  New  England 
hills,  in  the  spring  of  1755,  the  colonies  began  to  glow 
with  the  warmest  enthusiasm. 

James  De  Lancey,  a  man  of  great  energy  and  large  for- 
tune, was  now  acting  governor  of  the  province  of  New 
York.  He  had  been  the  uncompromising  political  adver- 
sary of  Governor  Clinton  for  several  years,  and,  as  we  have 
before  observed,  their  quarrels  interfered  seriously  with  the 
public  welfare.  Clinton  had  become  extremely  unpopular. 
"Easy  in  his  temper,  but  incapable  of  business,"  says  a 
cotemporary,  "he  was  always  obliged  to  rely  upon  some 
favorite.  In  a  province  given  to  hospitality  he  erred  by 
immuring  himself  in  a  fort,  or  retiring  to  a  grotto  in  the 
country,  where  his  time  was  spent  with  his  bottle  and  a 
little  trifling  circle,  who  played  billiards  with  his  lady  and 
lived  upon  his  bounty.  He  was  seldom  abroad  ;  many  of 
the  citizens  never  saw  him  ;  he  did  not  even  attend  divine 
worship  above  three  or  four  times  during  his  whole  admin- 
istration."* At  length,  thoroughly  wearied  with  the  de- 
fensive warfare  which  he  was  compelled  to  continually  wage 
with  his  opponent,  he  resigned  his  commission  and  returned 
to  England  in  the  autumn  of  1753. 

Clinton  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Danvers  Osborne,  brother- 
in-law  of  the  Earl  of  Halifax.  He  had  lately  been  be- 
reaved of  his  wife,  whom  he  passionately  loved,  and  with 
a  heavy  heart  he  crossed  the  Atlantic.  On  his  arrival  he 
was  received  with  acclamations,  but  he  soon  learned  that 
the  people  were,  in  a  measure,  arrayed  against  the  govern- 
ment on  the  subject  of  taxes,  and  that  his  situation  as  the 
representative  of  the  crown  would  be  a  most  uneasy  one. 
On  the  10th  of  October  he  took  the  oaths  of  office,  and 

*  History  of  New  York,  by  William  Smith. 
5* 


106  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  22. 

with  the  shouts  of  welcome  for  himself  he  heard  execra- 
tions of  his  predecessor.  "  I  expect  like  treatment  before 
I  leave  the  government/'  he  said,  sorrowfully,  and  retired 
to  his  lodgings  more  gloomy  than  ever. 

Osborne  had  received  from  the  city  council  an  address, 
in  which  they  said  "  We  are  sufficiently  assured  that  your 
excellency  will  be  as  averse  from  countenancing  as  we  from 
brooking  any  infringements  of  our  inestimable  liberties, 
civil  and  religious."  This  implied  jealousy  distressed  him, 
and  when,  on  the  following  day,  he  communicated  to  his 
council  his  instructions  from  the  King,  first  to  inform  the 
assembly  that  they  were  required  "  to  recede  from  all  en- 
croachments upon  the  prerogative/'  and  then  to  insist  upon 
their  affording  permanent  and  indefinite  support  to  the 
government,  while  all  public  money  was  to  be  applied  by 
the  governor's  warrant,  with  the  consent  of  the  council, 
and  the  assembly  never  to  be  allowed  to  examine  the  ac- 
counts, he  was  informed  that  the  latter  would  never  com- 
ply. He  sighed,  turned  about,  and  reclining  against  the 
window  frame  exclaimed  in  plaintive  voice,  "  Then  what 
have  I  come  here  for?"  And  to  De  Lancey  he  said,  "I 
believe  I  shall  soon  leave  you  the  government  ;  I  find  my- 
self unable  to  bear  the  government  of  it."  He  went  home 
in  a  mood  of  deepest  melancholy,  and  towards  morning  he 
hanged  himself  upon  his  garden  fence.  Thus  were  the 
reigns  of  government  left  in  the  hands  of  De  Lancey. 

De  Lancey's  position  was  a  delicate  one.  He  had  been 
the  leader  of  the  opposition  in  the  assembly,  and  he  was 
now  compelled  to  become  a  Janus — rebuke  the  assembly 
publicly  for  not  obeying  instructions  in  granting  required 
supplies,  and  to  confederate  with  them  privately  in  mea- 
sures directly  opposed  to  the  will  of  the  crown.  The  as- 
sembly, in  turn,  lauded  the  governor  for  his  virtues  and 


1755.]  PREPARATIONS    FOR    WAR.  107 

abilities,  boasted  of  their  attachment  to  the  crown,  and 
declared  that  nothing  should  be  wanting  to  promote  the 
King's  service  and  render  his  administration  easy  and 
happy.  At  the  same  time  they  firmly  resisted  every  move- 
ment in  the  way  of  taxation  without  their  consent,  while 
De  Lancey,  with  well  dissembled  zeal,  joined  Shirley  and 
Dinwiddie,  Sharpe  and  Morris,  Braddock,  Dunbar,  and 
Gage,  in  urging  the  British  government  to  put  in  action  a 
scheme  of  general  taxation  in  America  by  act  of  Parlia- 
ment. Thus  urged,  the  imperial  government  resolved  to 
assert  its  full  authority  in  the  American  colonies,  and  to 
raise  funds  for  American  affairs  by  a  stamp  duty  and  a 
duty  on  products  of  the  foreign  West  Indies. 

While  politicians  in  and  out  of  the  New  York  Legis- 
lature were  playing  disreputable  games,  in  which  the  best 
interests  of  the  commonwealth  were  more  or  less  involved, 
the  people  at  large,  alarmed  by  the  kindling  war,  became 
clamorous  for  measures  that  should  provide  defenses  against 
the  foe,  both  inland  and  upon  the  sea.  These  clamors  be- 
came so  loud  and  importunate  that,  on  the  advice  of  his 
council,  De  Lancey  issued  a  proclamation  on  the  10th  of 
January,  1755,  directing  the  Assembly  to  convene  on  the 
4th  of  February  following,  almost  six  weeks  earlier  than 
the  time  to  which  they  had  adjourned.  In  his  message  he 
stated  that  preparations  for  war  against  the  French  in 
America  were  absolutely  necessary,  and  that  he  should  ex- 
pect them  to  make  all  proper  provisions  for  putting  the 
province  in  a  suitable  state  of  defense.  He  informed  the 
assembly  of  the  armament  on  the  way  under  General  Brad- 
dock  ;  urged  them  to  strengthen  the  fortifications  at  New 
York,  and  to  take  immediate  measures  for  erecting  others 
at  the  northward.  "  Our  northern  frontier,"  he  said,  "  de- 
mands your  most  serious  attention.     The  city  of  Albany 


108  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Ml..  22. 

is  in  such  a  condition  as  draws  a  reproach  upon  us  from  our 
own  Indians  at  the  same  time  that  it  greatly  discourages 
them."  He  urged  them  to  take  care  to  secure  that  city 
against  the  foe,  for  if  it  should  be  once  taken,  nothing,  he 
thought,  could  prevent  the  enemy  penetrating  into  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  He  also  desired  them  to  provide 
for  the  building  of  a  strong  fortification  higher  up  on  the 
Hudson  ;  to  adopt  more  compulsory  regulations  for  bring- 
ing the  militia  into  active  service;  and  concluded  by  saying, 
"  I  flatter  myself  you  will  not  risk  losing  your  all  by  an 
ill-timed  parsimony." 

The  Assembly  took  prompt  action,  for  there  was  great 
alarm  abroad.  Utterly  disregarding  the  royal  instructions, 
which  prohibited  the  further  issue  of  paper  money  by  the 
colony,  unless  bills  for  the  purpose  were  submitted  to  and 
approved  by  the  crown,  they  authorized  the  emission  of 
£45,000  in  bills  of  credit,  to  be  sunk  at  short  intervals  by 
a  tax.  They  also  subjected  the  militiamen  to  such  duties 
and  penalties  as  the  executive  should  prescribe  ;  authorized 
the  levy  of  eight  hundred  men  and  the  impressment  of 
artificers  ;  prohibited  the  exportation  of  provisions  to  the 
French  colonies,  and  provided  funds  for  arming  the  troops, 
and  for  making  presents  to  the  Indians  to  secure  their  co- 
operation. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Shirley  sent  out  his  envoys 
to  arouse  the  colonies  to  a  war  of  extermination  against  the 
French,  or  at  least  to  achieve  the  conquest  of  Canada. 
His  envoy  to  New  York  was  Thomas  Pownal,  who  after- 
ward became  governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  appeared  at 
about  the  middle  of  March,  and  soon  afterward  the  assem- 
bly passed  bills  for  levying  eight  hundred  men  for  the  pro- 
posed expedition  against  Crown  Point,  under  William 
Johnson.     The  patriotism  of  the  young  men  of  the  colony 


1755.]    SCHUYLEK    COMMISSIONED    A     CAPTAIN.     109 

was  appealed  to,  and  then,  for  the  first  time,  Philip  Schuy- 
ler, who  had  lately  attained  to  his  majority,  appeared  in 
the  arena  of  public  life,  under  the  sanction  of  the  follow- 
ing commission  : 

"  To  Philip  Schuyler,  Esquire  : 

"  Whereas,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  this  province,  passed  on 
the  third  of  May  instant,  provision  is  made  for  raising  and  subsisting 
eight  complete  companies  of  volunteers,  to  consist  of  one  captain,  two 
lieutenants,  four  sergeants,  three  corporals,  one  drummer,  and  eighty- 
nine  private  men,  to  be  employed  in  building  one  or  more  forts  on  his 
Majesty's  lands  to  the  northward  of  Albany,  in  conjunction  with  the 
forces  to  be  raised  by  the  other  governments ;  the  whole  to  be  com- 
manded by  William  Johnscn,  Esq.,  Major-General  and  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  said  forces.  And  as  an  inducement  to  officers  and  men  to 
engage  in  this  service,  the  following  pay  and  other  advantages  are 
granted  by  the  act :  To  every  captain  who  shall  raise  such  a  complete 
company,  to  be  paid  on  the  first  muster  thereof,  one  hundred  pounds. 
To  each  able-bodied  man  a  bounty  of  thirty-two  shillings  and  sixpence, 
a  blanket,  a  good  lapelled  coat,  a  felt  hat,  one  shirt,  two  pair  of  Ozna- 
burg  trowsers,  one  pair  of  shoes,  and  one  pair  of  stockings.  To  cap- 
tains eight  shillings  per  diem,  lieutenants  six  shillings,  sergeants  one 
shilling  and  eightpence,  corporals  one  shilling  and  sixpence,  drummers 
one  shilling  and  sixpence,  and  each  private  man  one  shilling  and  three- 
pence per  day.  And  you  being  represented  to  me  as  a  person  able- to 
raise  such  a  company  and  fit  to  be-  employed  in  this  service,  I  have 
therefore  thought  fit  to  authorize,  and  I  do  hereby  authorize  and  im- 
power  you  to  beat  up  for  volunteers,  and  to  raise  such  a  company  within 
this  province,  whom  you  are  to  enlist  according  to  the  directions  here- 
with given  you,  on  the  completion  and  muster  whereof  you  shall  receive 
my  commission  to  command  such  company,  and  from  thenceforth  to  be 
entitled  to  pay.  And  all  officers,  civil  and  military,  are  required  to  give 
you  all  due  encouragement.  And  for  your  so  doing  this  shall  be  your 
warrant. 

"  Given  under  my  hand,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  this  fifth  day  of 
May,  1755.  "  James  De  Lancey." 

Young  Schuyler  set  about  the  business  of  recruiting 
immediately,  and  very  soon  the  full  complement  of  one 
hundred  men  responded  to  his  call.  They  were  chiefly 
young  men,  belonging  to  the  most  respectable  families  in 


110  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  22. 

Albany  and  its  vicinity.  Some  of  them  became  distin- 
guished militia  officers  in  the  army  of  the  Eevolution  twenty 
years  later.  Schuyler  reported  himself  to  General  John- 
son's adjutant-general,  and  soon  afterward  received  the 
following  commission  from  acting  governor  De  Lancey  : 

"  To  Philip  J.  Schuyler,  Esquire,  Greeting  : 

"  Whereas  the  several  governments  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  New 
Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  this  province,  have  respect- 
ively raised  a  body  of  men  to  be  employed  in  an  expedition  for  erecting 
a  strong  fort  or  forts  on  his  Majesty's  lands  near  Crown  Point,  and  for 
removing  the  encroachments  of  the  French  in  that  quarter,  the  said 
forces  to  be  commanded  by  the  Honorable  William  Johnson,  Esq.,  Ma- 
jor General  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  said  expedition  ;  and 
reposing  especial  trust  and  confidence  in  the  care,  diligence,  and  circum- 
spection, as  well  as  in  the  loyalty,  courage,  and  readiness  of  you  to  do 
his  Majesty  good  service,  I  have  nominated,  constituted  and  appointed, 
and  do,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  and  authorities  to  me  given  by  his  Ma- 
jesty, hereby  nominate,  constitute,  and  appoint  you,  the  said  Philip  J. 
Schuyler,  to  be  Captain  of  the  company  raised  by  you  for  the  service 
aforesaid,  in  the  regiment  of  the  province  whereof  William  Cockcroft, 
Esq.,  is  colonel.  You  are  therefore  to  take  the  said  company  into  your 
charge  and  care  as  captain,  and  duly  to  exercise  both  the  officers  and 
soldiers  of  that  company  in  arms.  And  as  they  are  hereby  commanded 
to  obey  you  as  their  captain,  so  are  you  likewise  to  observe  and  follow 
such  directions,  from  time  to  time,  as  you  shall  receive  from  me,  or  any 
other  your  superior  officer,  according  to  the  rules  and  discipline  of  war, 
in  pursuance  of  the  trust  reposed  in  you ;  and  for  so  doing  this  shall  be 
your  commission. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal-at-arms,  in  New  York,  the  four- 
teenth day  of  June,  in  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  Majesty's  reign, 
Anno  Domini  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-five. 

11  James  De  Lancet. 

"  Geo.  Banyar,  Secretary." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

The  troops  destined  for  the  expedition  against  Niagara 
and  Frontenac,  under  Governor  Shirley,  and  against  Crown 
Point,  under  General  Johnson,  were  ordered  to  assemble  at 
Albany.  The  call  for  volunteers  and  levies  had  been  cheer- 
fully responded  to,  and  the  larger  portion  of  the  number 
summoned  were  at  Albany  at  the  close  of  June.  Those 
who  were  to  be  led  by  Shirley  consisted  of  certain  regiments 
of  regulars  furnished  by  New  England,  New  York,  and 
New  Jersey,  and  a  band  of  Indian  auxiliaries.  Those  who 
were  to  follow  Johnson  consisted  chiefly  of  militia  regi- 
ments, comprising  between  five  and  six  thousand  men,  sup- 
plied by  New  England  and  New  York. 

Johnson's  lieutenant  was  Phineas  Lyman,  of  Connecti- 
cut, then  thirty-nine  years  of  age,  who  had  served  his  pro- 
vince faithfully  in  a  legislative  capacity,  and  by  its  authority 
was  commissioned  a  major-general.  He  reached  Albany 
with  his  own  regiment  at  about  the  middle  of  June.  There 
he  was  joined  by  the  eight  New  York  companies,  (among 
which  was  that  of  Captain  Schuyler,)  and  three  hundred 
Mohawks,  under  Hendrick  ;  and  with  an  energy  and  skill 
which,  in  comparison  with  Johnson,  entitled  him  to  the 
post  of  chief  commander,  he  arranged  the  expedition. 
Johnson,  meanwhile,  was  collecting  artillery,  boats,  and 
military  stores,  but  so  great  was  the  delay  that  the  pro- 
vincials became  tired  of  inaction  and  verv  discontented. 


112  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  22. 

Shirley,  meanwhile,  had  arrived,  and  taken  up  his  line  of 
march  through  the  Mohawk  valley  for  Oswego. 

To  prevent  the  discontented  troops  from  desertion, 
General  Lyman  moved  up  the  Hudson,  through  its  rich 
and  beautiful  valley,  then  covered  with  a  forest,  where  now 
the  smiles  of  cultivation  are  seen  on  every  side.  It  was 
during  the  hot  days  of  July,  and  the  troops  made  short 
marches.  They  were  five  days  in  making  a  journey  of  a 
little  more  than  fifty  miles  to  a  point  on  the  Hudson  known 
as  the  "  great  carrying  place,"  in  allusion  to  the  isthmus 
of  twenty-five  miles  between  that  river  and  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  which  connects  the  peninsula  of  New  England  with 
the  continent,  over  which  the  dusky  warriors  of  Canada 
sometimes  carried  their  canoes  when  they  penetrated  the 
country  of  the  Iroquois.  There,  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
General  Nicholson,  who  commanded  an  expedition  against 
Canada  in  the  summer  of  1711,  built  a  rude  stockade,  and 
upon  its  site  General  Lyman,  while  waiting  for  General 
Johnson,  employed  his  troops  in  the  erection  of  quite  a 
strong  timber  and  earth  fortification,  of  irregular  quadran- 
gular form,  with  bastions  at  three  of  the  angles,  and  the 
fourth  resting  upon  the  high  bank  of  the  river.  The  ram- 
parts were  sixteen  feet  in  height,  and  twenty-two  feet  in 
thickness,  and  upon  these  the  general  mounted  six  cannon. 
One  of  its  sides  was  protected  by  a  creek,  the  other  by  the 
Hudson  river  ;  and  in  front  of  the  other  two  sides  a  deep 
fosse  was  excavated.  On  the  whole  it  was  a  strong  and 
well-built  fortification,  and,  in  honor  of  the  commander,  it 
was  called  Fort  Lyman.  But  Johnson,  who  was  ever 
ready  to  bend  the  supple  knee  to  the  power  from  which  he 
might  receive  honors  and  emoluments,  afterward  ungener- 
ously named  it  Fort  Edward,  in  honor  of  the  Duke  of 
York,  grandson  of  the  reigning  sovereign,  and  brother  of 


1755.]  CONQUEST     OF     ACADIE.  113 

the  prince  who,  a  few  years  later,  became  King  George  the 
Third. 

On  the  8th  of  August  Johnson  left  Albany  with  the  ar- 
tillery and  stores  ;  also  the  New  York  troops  under  Lieuten- 
ant Colonel  William  Cockroft,  (Captain  Schuyler's  chief,) 
and  a  few  of  the  Connecticut  troops  left  behind  by  General 
Lyman.  He  reached  Fort  Edward  on  the  14th,  and  there, 
a  week  later,  he  held  a  council  of  war,  to  determine  what 
route  should  be  taken  to  Crown  Point.  It  was  unani- 
mously decided  that  by  the  way  of  the  Lake  of  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  as  Lake  George  was  then  called,  appeared  to 
them  the  most  eligible,  and  that  they  would  proceed  im- 
mediately in  that  direction. 

While  these  preparations  for  the  campaign  in  the  north 
were  in  progress,  Braddock  was  on  his  way  toward  Fort 
Du  Quesne,  and  the  eastern  expedition,  under  General 
Winslow,  had  performed  its  mission.  Winslow  had  sailed 
from  Boston  toward  the  close  of  May  with  three  thousand 
men,  and  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  where  he 
landed,  was  joined  by  Colonel  Monckton,  with  three  hun- 
dred British  regulars  from  a  neighboring  English  garrison. 
There  Monckton,  Winslow's  superior,  took  the  chief  com- 
mand, and  in  June  had  conquered  the  country  and  placed 
the  whole  region  under  martial  rule.  So  far  good,  according 
to  the  ethics  of  war,  but  the  cruel  sequel  deserves,  as  it  has 
received,  universal  reprobation.  The  English  decided  upon 
the  total  destruction  of  the  French  settlements  in  all  Aca- 
die,  and  under  the  plea  that  they  would  be  likely  to  aid 
their  brethren  in  Canada,  that  innocent  and  happy  people 
were  seized  in  their  homes,  their  churches  and  their  fields, 
conveyed  on  board  the  British  fleet,  without  regard  to  the 
sanctities  of  the  family  relations  or  the  claims  of  gentle 
woman  and  helpless  childhood,  and  borne  away.     Families 


114  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  22. 

were  thus  separated  for  ever  ;  and  to  compel  those  who  had 
escaped  the  hand  of  ruthless  violence,  and  fled  to  the  woods 
for  safety,  to  surrender  to  the  invader,  their  growing  crops 
and  garnered  food  were  totally  destroyed,  and  starvation  or 
captivity  were  the  dreadful  alternatives  offered  to  them. 
The  Acadians  were  completely  peeled.  Those  who  were 
carried  away  became  helpless  beggars  in  the  English  colo- 
nies, to  die  heart-broken  in  strange  lands.  In  one  short 
month,  their  paradise,  into  which  no  Satan  had  ever  before 
intruded,  was  changed  to  a  desert  of  despair,  and  a  happy, 
unoffending  people,  were  crushed  into  the  dust. 

Braddock,  with  about  two  thousand  men,  left  the  Po- 
tomac at  Cumberland  toward  the  middle  of  June,  and 
made  his  weary  way  over  the  Alleghanies  to  attack  Fort 
Du  Quesne.  His  force  was  composed  of  British  regulars 
and  American  provincials  ;  and  young  Washington  had 
consented  to  become  his  aid,  with  the  rank  of  colonel.  To 
him  was  given  the  command  of  the  provincials.  Anxious 
to  reach  his  destination  before  the  garrison  could  receive 
reinforcements,  Braddock  made  forced  marches  with  twelve 
hundred  men,  leaving  Colonel  Dunbar,  his  second  in  com- 
mand, to  follow  with  the  remainder  and  the  wagons. 

Braddock  was  a  bigoted  disciplinarian  of  the  European 
school,  and  he  spurned  the  advice  of  Colonel  Washington, 
when  he  ventured  to  propose  methods,  dictated  by  exper- 
ience, to  meet  the  Indians  in  their  native  forests.  He  would 
listen  to  no  suggestions,  especially  from  a  provincial  officer, 
and  on  the  9th  of  July,  at  about  mid-day,  while  marching 
in  fancied  security,  just  after  crossing  the  Monongahela,  he 
fell  into  an  ambuscade.  Dusky  warriors  arose  from  the  ra- 
vines and  behind  the  huge  forest  trees  on  every  side,  and 
poured  terrible  storms  of  bullets  and  arrows  upon  his 
doomed  army.     Even  then,  had  Braddock  been  willing  to 


1753.]  FAILURES.  115 

shape  his  tactics  to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment,  his  army- 
might  have  been  saved  and  perhaps  victorious,  but  he  ob- 
stinately persisted  in  maneuvering  according  to  European 
rules,  while  his  troops  were  falling  around  him  in  scores. 
For  three  hours  a  deadly  conflict  raged  in  the  forest.  The 
slain  covered  the  ground.  Every  mounted  officer  but  Wash- 
ington was  killed  or  maimed,  and  finally  the  really  brave 
Braddock  fell  mortally  wounded.  Washington  remained 
unhurt,  took  the  chief  command,  rallied  the  provincials, 
and  gallantly  covered  the  retreat  of  the  regulars,  who  fled 
when  their  general  fell.  The  enemy  did  not  follow,  and 
the  remnant  of  the  army  was  saved.  Braddock  was  car- 
ried off  the  field,  and  a  week  afterward  he  died.  Then,  by 
torch-light,  Colonel  Washington  read  the  impressive  fun- 
eral service  of  the  Anglican  Church  over  his  body,  and  it 
was  buried  beneath  a  road,  where  the  Indians  might  not 
discover  and  desecrate  it.  The  flying  troops  were  received 
by  Colonel  Dunbar,  and  Washington,  with  the  southern 
provincials,  went  back  to  Virginia.  Thus  ended  in  utter 
defeat  an  expedition  to  which  all  others  of  the  campaign 
wTere  secondary. 

The  expedition  against  Niagara  and  Frontenac,  under 
the  personal  guidance  of  General  Shirley,  although  not  so 
disastrous  as  that  under  Braddock,  was  equally  unsuccess- 
ful. The  main  body  of  Shirley's  troops  were  not  assembled 
at  Oswego,  the  point  of  general  rendezvous  for  an  attack  on 
these  forts,  until  late  in  August.  Shirley  was  informed  of 
Braddock' s  defeat  while  on  his  march  through  the  upper 
Mohawk  valley,  and  the  intelligence  spread  consternation 
throughout  the  army.  Many  of  the  boatmen  and  sledge 
men,  hired  to  transport  provisions  and  stores  to  Oswego, 
began  to  desert ;  and  the  Indians,  also  alarmed,  showed 
sisfns  of  serious  defection.     Much  time  was  consumed  in 


116  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  22. 

efforts  to  conciliate  and  reassure  them,  for,  as  on  all  occa- 
sions, tlie  savages  were  unwilling  to  remain  with  what  ap- 
peared to  them  the  weaker  party.  Many  hands  of  Indians 
fell  off,  and  when,  on  the  21st  of  August,  Shirley  arrived 
at  Oswego,  his  forces  was  so  much  reduced  hy  desertion, 
and  the  fidelity  of  the  Indians  was  so  insecure,  that  he 
hesitated  about  proceeding  further.  He  finally  moved  for- 
ward, but  a  succession  of  heavy  rains  so  damaged  his  mu- 
nitions of  war  that  he  abandoned  the  expedition,  and  leaving 
Colonel  Mercer,  with  a  garrison  of  seven  hundred  men,  at 
Oswego,  instructed  to  build  two  additional  forts  for  the 
defense  of  that  station,  he  marched  the  remainder  of  the 
army  back  to  Albany. 

The  alarming  intelligence  of  Braddock's  disaster  and 
the  failure  of  Shirley  somewhat  dispirited  the  troops  under 
Johnson,  and  a  feeling  generally  prevailed  that  the  expe- 
dition against  the  French  at  Crown  Point  would  also  prove 
an  utter  failure.  But  the  New  England  people  had  entered 
into  this  scheme  for  expelling  the  French  from  Lake  Cham- 
plain  with  a  great  deal  of  earnestness,  their  borders  being 
peculiarly  exposed  to  incursions  from  the  north  while  Crown 
Point  was  in  possession  of  the  enemy.  For  this  reason 
the  troops  at  Fort  Edward,  who  were  chiefly  from  the  East, 
were  ready  to  press  forward. 

Leaving  a  sufficient  garrison  to  hold  Fort  Edward, 
Johnson  set  out  on  the  26th  of  August,  with  the  main 
body  of  the  army,  for  the  Lake  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  seventeen  miles,  and  arrived  at  its  head  on 
the  evening  of  the  28th.  With  the  same  loyalty  that  caused 
him  to  change  the  name  of  Fort  Lyman  to  that  of  Fort  Ed- 
ward, Johnson  now  called  the  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  upon 
whose  margin  he  stood,  Lake  George,  "  not"  he  said  "  in 
simple  honor  of  his  majesty,  but  to  assert  his  undoubted 


1755.]  A     WARY    FOE     APPROACHING.  117 

dominion  here."  "  I  found/'  he  said,  "  a  mere  wilderness  ; 
never  was  house  or  fort  erected  here  before.""  He  at  once 
commenced  a  clearing  for  a  camp  of  five  thousand  men,  but, 
with  strange  indolence  or  lack  of  sagacity,  not  a  spade  or 
pick  was  employed  in  making  mtrenchments.  There  his 
camp  lay,  with  the  open  lake  on  one  side  and  the  shelter- 
ing forest  on  the  other,  completely  exposed  to  the  attacks 
of  a  vigilant  and  stealthy  enemy. 

Slowly  wagon  after  wagon  brought  artillery,  boats,  and 
stores  to  that  camp,  while  the  soldiers  spent  day  after  day 
in  utter  idleness,  notwithstanding  Indian  scouts  brought 
the  intelligence  that  a  party  of  French  and  savages  were 
erecting  a  fort  at  Ticonderoga,  twelve  miles  further  into 
the  country  of  the  English  than  the  post  against  which 
this  expedition  was  pressing.  This  intelligence  startled 
Johnson,  and  he  resolved  to  construct  a  rude  fort  at  the 
head  of  the  lake,  and  then,  with  part  of  his  troops,  pro- 
ceed in  bateaux  to  its  foot,  march  over  through  the  forest, 
and  take  possession  of  Ticonderoga  before  the  enemy  could 
complete  their  works,  rest  there  until  joined  by  the  re- 
mainder of  his  forces,  and  then  attack  Crown  Point. 

Johnson  was  leisurely  preparing  for  this  movement, 
when  scouts  brought  intelligence  that  the  enemy  in  consid- 
erable numbers  were  pushing  through  the  forests  from 
South  Bay,  an  expansion  of  the  narrow  part  of  Lake 
Champlain  near  Whitehall.  The  report  was  true.  A  force 
of  almost  two  thousand  men,  consisting  of  French  regulars, 
Canadians,  and  Indians,  under  the  Baron  Dieskau,  an  able 
and  experienced  general,  was  advancing  toward  the  English 
settlements.  He  had  arrived  at  Quebec  in  the  spring,  with 
about  two  thousand  regulars,  and  intended  to  go  up  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  Lake  Ontario,  capture  Oswego,  and  hold  in 
awe  the  whole  Iroquois  confederacy.    Information  of  John- 


118  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  22. 

son's  expedition  against  Crown  Point  caused  him  to  change 
his  plan,  and  with  a  part  of  his  troops  to  go  up  Lake  Cham- 
plain  to  assist  in  the  defense  of  Fort  St.  Frederick.  He 
waited  there  for  the  approach  of  Johnson  until,  wearied 
with  inaction,  he  determined  to  press  forward  and  meet  his 
enemy.  With  the  vigilance  of  an  accomplished  disciplin- 
arian, he  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  condition  and 
movements  of  his  opponents  ;  and  when  he  arrived  at  South 
Bay  he  resolved  to  cut  a  road  through  the  woods  in  the 
direction  of  Fort  Edward,  attack  and  capture  the  garrison 
there,  and  then,  with  quick  movement,  fall  upon  Johnson's 
exposed  camp  at  the  head  of  Lake  George.  This  accom- 
plished, he  intended  to  turn  southward,  desolate  Albany 
and  Schenectada,  and  cut  off  all  communication  with  Os- 
wego. Dieskau  believed  his  plan  could  be  accomplished 
with  comparative  ease,  and  under  this  impression  he  moved 
forward. 

Sunday,  the  7th  of  September,  was  a  beautiful  day. 
The  sun  shone  in  splendor  upon  the  provincial  camp  that 
lay  upon  the  rising  ground  at  the  head  of  Lake  George ; 
and  when  the  sermons  for  the  day  were  over,  the  soldiers 
sauntered  listlessly  in  the  shade  along  the  margin  of  the 
forest,  and  the  Mohawk  braves  forgot  to  be  vigilant  under 
the  influence  of  the  feeling  of  security  that  prevailed.  The 
scouts  were  out  upon  the  mountains  and  in  the  ravines,  hut 
no  alarm  disturbed  the  quiet  of  the  camp,  and  the  sun 
went  down  that  night  as  it  had  gone  down  many  nights 
before,  leaving  an  unwise  general  to  sleep  in  fancied  safety, 
without  a  battery  or  a  trench  for  defense. 

The  evening  wore  away  and  the  camp-fires  were  burn- 
ing feebly,  when,  at  midnight  or  past,  scouts  came  in  hot 
haste  to  the  general's  tent  to  inform  him  that  the  woods 
between  South  Bay  and  Fort  Edward  were  swarming  with 


1755.]  A    FATAL     AMBUSH.  119 

French  and  Indian  warriors.  Johnson  immediately  sent 
swift  couriers  first  to  Fort  Edward,  and  then  to  New  Eng- 
land and  to  the  authorities  of  his  own  province,  with  infor- 
mation of  his  peril  and  a  call  for  help.  Massachusetts  was 
the  first  to  respond,  by  raising,  in  addition  to  her  troops 
already  in  the  field,  several  hundred  more.  But  before  they 
could  reach  the  scene  of  danger  all  danger  was  past. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th,  General  Johnson  called  a 
council  of  war,  and  as  the  enemy  were  seen  making  their 
way  in  the  direction  of  Fort  Edward,  it  was  resolvred  to 
send  a  detachment  of  a  thousand  men  to  the  relief  of  the 
garrison  there.  Colonel  Ephraim  Williams,  of  Massachu- 
setts, was  chosen  to  command  the  relief  corps,  and  he  was 
joined  by  Hendrick  and  two  hundred  of  his  Mohawk  war- 
riors. At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  started  in  the 
direction  of  Fort  Edward. 

Meanwhile  the  cowardice  or  extreme  caution  of  the  In- 
dians with  Dieskau  foiled  that  general.  Full  three  hundred 
of  them  were  discontented  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations, 
who  had  emigrated  to  Canada,  and  the  other  three  hundred 
were  Abenakes.  The  Iroquois,  as  they  approached  Fort 
Edward,  heard  that  there  were  cannon  upon  its  ramparts. 
They  had  learned  to  dread  that  destructive  engine,  and  re- 
fused to  attack  the  fort.  The  Abenakes  joined  in  the  re- 
fusal, but  all  agreed  to  attack  the  unfortified  camp  at  the 
head  of  the  lake.  Dieskau,  therefore,  turned  his  face  in 
that  direction.  His  scouts  soon  brought  him  intelligence 
of  the  advancing  troops  under  Williams,  and  his  whole 
force  was  placed  in  ambuscade,  according  to  Indian  cus- 
tom. 

Williams,  unsuspicious  of  danger,  had  marched  about 
three  miles  from  the  camp,  when  his  party  fell  into  the 
ambush,  which  was  in  crescent  form.     French  and  Indians 


120  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  22. 

rose  upon  them  on  every  side,  and  poured  deadly  vollies  upon 
the  bewildered  provincials  and  Mohawks.  Hendrick,  who 
was  advanced  in  years  and  quite  corpulent,  was  the  only 
man  on  horseback.  He  had  shrewdly  remarked  in  the 
morning,  when  told  of  the  number  of  the  detachment,  "If 
they  are  to  fight,  they  are  too  few ;  if  they  are  to  be  killed, 
they  are  too  many."  And  he  had  objected  to  the  proposi- 
tion of  making  three  divisions,  saying,  as  he  put  three 
sticks  together,  "  Unite  them  and  you  can  not  break  them; 
take  them  one  by  one,  and  you  can  break  them  easily." 
Johnson,  guided  by  the  opinion  of  Hendrick,  ordered  the 
whole  detachment  to  march  in  one  body. 

Hendrick  fell  almost  at  the  first  fire,  and  his  braves 
turned  back  upon  the  advancing  provincials.  Williams 
mounted  a  rock  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitering,  when  he, 
too,  fell  mortally  wounded.  The  slaughter  soon  became 
dreadful,  and  the  surviving  provincials  and  Indians,  under 
the  general  command  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  Whiting,  of 
New  Haven,  retreated  in  good  order  toward  the  camp,  fre- 
quently delivering  galling  fires  upon  the  pursuers.  As 
they  drew  near  the  camp,  their  retreat  was  covered  by  a 
party  of  three  hundred  men,  under  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Cole,  sent  out  by  General  Johnson  for  the  purpose. 

When  Johnson  heard  the  din  of  battle  in  the  forest, 
and  its  sounds  approaching  nearer  and  nearer,  he  was 
aroused  to  a  sense  of  real  danger,  and  at  once  ordered 
breastworks  of  trees  to  be  raised.  At  the  same  time  some 
field  pieces  that  had  been  sent  from  Fort  Edward  were 
placed  in  battery,  and  some  heavy  cannon  and  a  howitzer, 
intended  for  use  at  Crown  Point  that  were  lying  upon  the 
shore  of  the  lake,  were  dragged  up  the  bank  and  placed 
upon  the  rude  breastwork.     These  hasty  preparations  for 


1755  ]  THE    FRENCH    DEFEATED.  121 

defense  were  scarcely  finished  when  the  fugitives  appeared 
with  the  enemy  in  hot  pursuit. 

It  had  heen  Dieskau's  plan  to  rush  forward  suddenly, 
and  enter  the  camp  with  the  flying  provincials,  but  when 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  breastworks,  his  Indians, 
from  rising  ground,  saw  the  cannon,  they  halted.  The 
Canadians  also  faltered.  The  Baron,  with  his  regulars, 
after  brief  hesitation,  rushed  forward  to  attack  the  center 
of  the  camp,  where  he  was  received  with  severe  vollies  of 
musketry.  He  had  hoped  for  aid  in  this  assault  from 
the  Canadians  and  Indians,  whom  he  had  placed  on  his 
flanks,  but  they  were  shy,  and  a  bombshell  from  the  how- 
itzer, and  a  heavy  fire  of  grape  shot  from  the  larger  cannon, 
under  the  direction  of  Captain  Eyre,  of  the  engineer  corps 
of  Brad  dock's  army,  soon  caused  the  two  wings  to  flee. 
And  yet,  for  more  than  four  hours  did  Dieskau  and  his 
regulars,  with  no  other  weapon  than  the  musket,  sustain 
the  severe  conflict.  Three  times  the  baron  was  wounded, 
but  he  would  not  retire,  and  nearly  all  of  his  brave  men 
perished.  Kesolved  on  death  or  victory,  he  ordered  his 
servant  to  place  his  military  dress  near  him.  Faint  with 
fatigue  and  loss  of  blood,  he  sat  upon  a  stump  in  the  midst 
of  the  leaden  storm.  At  length  the  provincials,  leaping 
over  the  breastworks,  put  the  shattered  enemy  to  flight. 
Dieskau  remained,  unable  to  flee  ;  and  as  a  provincial 
soldier  who  discovered  him  approached,  he  put  his  hand  in 
his  pocket  to  offer  him  his  watch  as  a  bribe  to  allow  him 
to  escape.  Believing  the  baron  to  be  feeling  for  his  pistol, 
the  provincial  shot  him  severely  in  the  hip,  and  in  that 
condition  he  was  made  prisoner  and  carried  into  the  Amer- 
ican camp,  where  General  Johnson  also  lay  wounded  in  the 
fleshy  part  of  his  thigh,  from  a  ball  sent  in  the  beginning 
of  the  action.     The  battle,  during  the  whole  conflict,  was 


122  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [.Ex.  22. 

conducted  by  General  Lyman,  and  the  credit  of  the  victory 
properly  belonged  to  that  brave  and  energetic  man. 

Hendrick's  Indians  wished  to  pursue  the  fugitives  and 
take  revenge  for  the  loss  of  their  leader,  and  Lyman  strongly 
recommended  pursuit.  Had  that  course  been  taken,  no 
doubt  the  whole  body  of  the  enemy  might  have  been  slain 
or  made  prisoners.  But  Johnson,  with  his  usual  indecision, 
refused  permission  to  pursue,  and  the  best  fruits  of  the 
victory  were  lost. 

Just  at  evening  the  fugitives  were  met  and  attacked  by 
a  party  of  two  hundred  men,  under  Captain  M'Ginnis,  a 
mere  lad,  from  New  Hampshire.  The  enemy  fled  in  dis- 
may, but  the  young  leader  was  killed  at  the  moment  of  his 
victory.  The  Americans  lost  on  that  day  about  two  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  killed  and  ninety-six  wounded.*  The 
loss  of  the  French  and  their  allies  was  much  greater.  The 
French  major-general  was  killed ;  also  St.  Pierre,  to  whom 
Washington  carried  a  letter  from  Dinwiddie.  He  com- 
manded the  Indians  in  this  engagement. 

General  Lyman,  with  much  vehemence,  urged  General 
Johnson  to  push  forward  immediately  and  take  possession 
of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  a  matter  of  easy  accom- 
plishment while  the  French  were  panic  stricken  by  the  dis- 
asters at  Lake  George.  But  Johnson,  having  none  of  the 
qualities  of  a  good  general,  did  not  know  how  to  profit  by 
success.     General  Shirley  and  the  authorities  of  New  Eng- 

*  The  muster  roll  of  the  following  companies  that  were  in  Johnson's  array 
at  that  time,  are  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  State  of  New  York : 


Captains. 
Philip  John  Schuyler's  com 

jany,          Albany, 

4                Westchester, 
"                Dutchess, 
44                Schenectada, 
14                Seabrook,  Ct.r 
4                Dunham,  Ct., 
•                Wallingford,  Ct, 

Officers. 
3 

Rank  and 
89 

Edmund  Matthews' 

3 

97 

95 

Pieter  Vanderburgh's 

3 

78 

William  M'Ginnis' s 

Samuel  Dimock's 

John  Slap's 

Street  U all's                         ' 

3 

3 

3 

3 

89 

97 

97 

97 

1755.]  AN    AMERICAN     BARONET.  123 

land,  and  even  a  council  of  war  of  his  own  army,  urged 
him  to  advance,  but  in  vain.     He  pleaded  his  expectation 
of  being  shortly  attacked  by  a  more  formidable  force  with 
artillery  ;  and  he  spent  the  whole  autumn  in  his  camp,  em- 
ploying the  men,  under  the  direction  of  Captain  Eyre,  in  the 
useless  labor  of  building  a  fort  there,  to  which,  when  com- 
pleted, he  gave  the  name  of  William  Henry,  in  honor  of  two 
English  princes.     It  was  an  irregular  quadrangle  of  about 
three  hundred  feet  on  each  side.    It  was  commenced  in  Sep- 
tember and  completed  by  the  close  of  November.    Johnson 
then  placed  six  hundred  New  York  troops  in  the  fort  as  a 
garrison,  disbanded  the  New  England  militia,  and  returned 
to  his  home  amid  the  barbarians  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  to 
await  the  rewards  which  he  was  certain  to  receive  through 
the  influence  of  friends  at  court  and  the  ungenerous  maxims 
of  military  ethics  which  then  prevailed.     He  was  careful 
not  to  divide  the  honors  of  the  event.     With  a  meanness 
paralleled  only  by  his  own  incapacity,  he  did  not  even  men- 
tion, in  his  report  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  the  name  of 
General  Lyman,  the  real  leader  in  the  victory.     And  it  was 
immediately  after  the  battle  that,  with  evident  jealousy  of 
Lyman,  he  sought  to  hide  his  name  in  oblivion  by  chang- 
ing the  name  of  Fort  Lyman  to  that  of  Fort  Edward. 
The  imperial  government,  elated  by  this,  the  only  cheering 
event  in  the  disastrous  campaign  of  the  year,  created  John- 
son a  baronet  and  gave  him  twenty  thousand  dollars  where- 
with to  support  the  dignity  of  the  title.*     The  honor  and 
the  emolument   were   unworthily  bestowed.      They  wrere 
given  to  an  avaricious  and  immoral  man  and  unskillful  gen- 

*  The  appointment  was  thus  announced  in  the  London  Gazette  : 

"Whitehall,  November  18,  1755. 

"  The  King  has  been  pleased  to  grant  unto  William  Johnson,  of  New 
York,  America,  Esquire,  and  his  heirs  male  the  dignity  of  a  baronet  of  Great 
Britain. 


]  24  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JSt.  22 

eral,  while  another,  pure,  and  noble,  and  brave,  was  suf- 
fered to  go  unnoticed,  either  by  his  general  or  by  the  King 
whom  he  served. 

We  have  no  record  of  the  special  part  (if  any)  which 
Captain  Schuyler  and  his  company  performed  in  the  battle 
at  Lake  George.  Two  or  three  days  after  the  engagement, 
he  set  out  for  Albany  charged  with  special  duties  which 
were  particularly  pleasing  to  him.  One  from  his  general 
was  to  make  arrangements  for  the  reception  of  the  French 
prisoners  at  Albany  ;  and  the  other  was  the  more  pleasing 
commission  of  his  affections,  to  marry  one  to  whom  he  had 
been  for  some  time  affianced.  That  marriage,  as  we  have 
already  observed,  was  solemnized  on  the  17th  of  Septem- 
ber, nine  days  after  the  battle.  For  a  week  the  young  sol- 
dier was  allowed  to  remain  with  his  bride  in  the  enjoyment 
of  nuptial  festivities,  in  which,  no  doubt,  the  best  elements 
of  society  in  Albany  participated.  Then  he  repaired  to 
the  camp  at  Lake  George,  and  remained  there  until  the 
dismissal  of  the  New  England  troops,  a  few  weeks  later, 
when  he  was  employed  in  the  important  service  of  making 
Fort  Edward  a  safe  depot  of  military  stores. 

The  wounded  Baron  Dieskau,  and  his  aide-de-camp, 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Bernier,  of  the  Koyal  Swedish  regi- 
ment, arrived  in  Albany  during  Captain  Schuyler's  bridal 
festivities,  and  at  once  received  his  personal  attentions. 
The  captain  was  almost  the  only  officer  in  Johnson's  army 
who  could  speak  French  fluently,  and  as  Dieskau  could  not 
speak  English,  they  had  become  quite  intimate  at  head- 
quarters before  Schuyler  left  for  Albany.  The  number 
of  French  prisoners  including  the  Baron  was  twenty- 
nine.  Twenty-one  of  them  were  sent  to  Fort  Edward  by 
General  Johnson  on  the  15th,  to  be  joined  by  six  others  there 
in  a  batteau  voyage  down  the  Hudson  under  a  proper  guard. 


1T55.J  GRATEFUL     HEARTS.  125 

Dieskau  and  Bernier  followed  the  next  day.  The  latter 
was  slightly  wounded,  the  former  seriously.  He  was  car- 
ried on  a  litter  to  Fort  Edward,  and  from  there  to  Albany 
in  a  batteau. 

Dieskau  was  a  brave  old  Saxon,  and  always  acted  ac- 
cording to  the  motto  on  his  arms  "  Boldness  wins."  He 
had  been  a  great  favorite  with  the  celebrated  Marshal  Saxe, 
with  whom  he  had  long  served,  and  by  whom  he  was  made 
the  executor  of  that  great  soldier's  last  will.  He  had  come 
to  Canada  with  Vaudreuil,  (lately  appointed  governor  gen- 
eral of  that  province,)  in  the  spring  of  1755,  as  commander- 
in-chief  of  all  the  French  forces  in  America.  He  had 
expected,  as  Burgoyne,  twenty  years  later,  boasted  he 
should,  to  eat  his  Christmas  dinner  a  conqueror  in  Albany. 
He  was  there  long  before  Christmas,  a  prisoner,  with  wounds 
which  caused  his  death  at  Surenne,  in  France,  on  the  8th 
of  September,  1767. 

Like  Burgoyne,  Dieskau  experienced  the  most  generous 
hospitality  in  Albany,  and  at  the  hands  of  the  same  man — ■ 
Philip  Schuyler.  Before  leaving  his  mother  and  his  bride 
for  the  northern  camp,  Captain  Schuyler  made  ample  pro- 
visions for  the  prisoners,  and  especially  for  the  Baron  and 
his  aide-de-camp  ;  and  he  enjoined  his  family  to  do  all  in 
their  power,  during  his  absence,  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of 
the  brave  and  unfortunate  old  general.  How  well  his  in- 
junctions were  heeded,  and  how  gratefully  the  kind  atten- 
tions of  his  family  were  accepted  by  the  prisoners,  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  written  in  French,  by  Dieskau's  aide-de-camp 
to  Captain  Schuyler,  fully  attests  : 

"  Albany,  October  5,  1755. 
"  I  have  received,  sir,  and  dear  friend,  the  letter  which  you  have  done 
me  the  honor  to  write  to  me  from  your  camp.  It  is  full  of  politeness  and 
sentiment.     As  to  the  portion  intended  particularly  for  me,  I  am  truly 


126  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  22. 

sensible ;  and  I  should  esteem  myself  infinitely  happy  to  be  able  to  give 
you  some  marks  of  my  gratitude,  and  of  the  esteem  and  friendship 
which  are  due  to  you. 

"  I  have  read  the  letter  to  the  Baron  Dieskau.  It  has  confirmed 
him  in  the  good  opinion  of  you  which,  you  know,  he  has  reason  to  en- 
tertain. He  is  still  as  when  you  left  him — still  suffering,  and  uncertain 
how  his  wounds  will  end  at  last.  He  charges  me  to  pray  you,  in  his 
behalf,  to  present  his  compliments  to  Mr.  Johnson,  and  to  assure  him  of 
the  extent  of  his  gratitude  to  him.*  His  greatest  desire  is  to  be  able  to 
write  to  him  himself.  I  pray  you  add  to  the  Baron's  wishes  my  very 
humble  respects. 

"  One  can  add  nothing  to  the  politeness  of  Madame,  your  mother, 
and  Madame,  your  wife.  Every  day  there  comes  from  them,  to  the 
Baron,  fruits  and  other  rare  sweets,  which  are  of  great  service  to  him. 
He  orders  me,  on  this  subject,  to  express  to  you  all  that  he  owes  to  the 
attentions  of  these  ladies.  If  it  was  permitted  me  to  go  out,  I  should 
already  have  been  often  to  present  to  them  his  respects  and  mine. 

"  The  Baron  has  been  much  pleased  to  learn  by  your  letter  that  Gen- 
eral Johnson  esteems  you,  and  gives  you  marks  of  his  consideration  and 
goodness.  If  he  shall  have  the  happiness  to  be  restored  to  health,  and 
to  see  your  General  again,  he  will  himself  be  the  proclaimer  of  all  the 
good  words  which  should  be  said  of  you,  and  which  in  justice  he  owes 
you.  for  the  trouble  and  care  that  you  have  had  for  him. 

"  I  pray  you,  my  dear  Captain,  to  say  many  things  to  Engineer  Eyre 
on  the  part  of  the  Baron  and  myself.  For  the  good  will  I  bear  you,  I 
wish  you  might  secure  his  particular  friendship.  He  is  an  officer  of  dis- 
tinction, and  if  you  love  the  trade  of  war  seek  his  instructions.  We 
knew  him  long  before  we  saw  him,  because  of  his  merits  and  reputation, 
and  the  Bar<ln,  who  is  a  connoisseur  in  these  things,  has  a  great  regard 
for  him.  To  facilitate  your  access  to  him,  say  to  him  that  the  Baron 
prays  him  to  extend  to  you  the  friendship  he  bears  for  himself. 

"  I  do  not  know  yet  when,  if  at  all,  we  will  go  to  New  York ;  but  if 
we  are  ever  there,  give  us  news  of  you,  I  pray  you ;  and  if  you  shall 
ever  come  there,  you  know  beforehand  how  much  pleasure  it  will  give 
the  Baron  to  see  you,  and  to  renew  his  sentiments  of  friendship.  As 
for  me,  I  owe  too  much  to  yours,  not  to  seek  every  means  to  merit 
your  friendship.  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  my  dear  captain,  your  very 
humble  and  very  obedient  servant,  "  Bernier." 

"  Salute,  I  pray  you,  on  my  part,  Colonel  Cole,  and  all  those  gen- 
tlemen by  whom  I  have  the  honor  to  be  known. "f 

*  General  Johnson  lent  the  Baron  fifty  guineas  when  he  left  Lake  Georgo 
for  Albany. 

f  Translation  of  autograph  letter. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Governor  Shirley,  the  successor  of  Braddock  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  British  forces  in  America,  was  a 
splendid  theorist,  but  knew  very  little  about  war  practi- 
cally. He  had  pursued  the  profession  of  the  law  with  in- 
different success,  until,  upon  the  tide  of  politics,  he  was 
borne  into  office,  and  by  great  self-reliance,  industry,  and 
assurance,  he  gained  a  commanding  position  in  the  colonies. 
At  a  convention  of  colonial  governors  held  at  New  York  in 
December,  1755,  he  submitted  a  plan  of  a  campaign  for 
1756,  which  was  adopted  by  the  convention  and  approved 
by  the  home  government.  It  was  proposed  to  employ  ten 
thousand  men  in  an  attack  upon  Crown  Point,  six  thou- 
sand in  an  expedition  against  Fort  Niagara,  three  thousand 
against  Port  Du  Quesne,  and  two  thousand  to  menace 
Quebec,  by  crossing  the  wilderness  by  way  of  the  Kennebec 
and  Chaudiere  rivers,  over  which  Arnold  marched  nineteen 
years  later.  Shirley's  plan  also  contemplated  the  expulsion 
of  the  French  from  Toronto  and  Frontenac,  on  the  north 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  to  take  possession  of  that  great 
inland  sea,  and  cut  off  Montreal  and  Quebec  from  the  inte- 
rior posts  of  Niagara,  Du  Quesne,  Detroit,  Michillimacki- 
nac,  and  those  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  British  government  had  resolved  to  declare  war 
against  France,  and  to  prosecute  the  campaign  with  vigor. 
Extensive  preparations  were  accordingly  made.  Shirley, 
who  had  offended  Lieutenant-Governor  De  Lancey  and  his 


128  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  23. 

friends  by  not  inviting  them  to  the  grand  council  in  New 
York,  became  a  victim  to  their  intrigues.  Through  their 
representations  the  blame  of  Braddock's  defeat,  and  other 
disasters  of  the  campaign  of  1755,  were  laid  upon  the 
shoulders  of  Shirley,  and  a  strong  party  in  England, 
irritated  thereby,  caused  him  to  be  superseded  in  that 
office. 

The  successor  of  Shirley  was  the  Earl  of  Loudoun,  a 
man  totally  unfit  for  any  command  whatever.  He  was  in- 
dolent and  ever  unready,  and  his  conduct  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  military  affairs  in  America  justified  the  compar- 
ison made  by  a  gentlemen  in  conversation  with  Dr.  Franklin, 
who  said  his  lordship  "  reminded  him  of  St.  George  upon 
the  tavern  signs — always  on  horseback  but  never  gets  for- 
ward." General  Abercrombie  was  his  lieutenant,  who,  not 
at  all  remarkable  for  skill  and  forethought,  was  neverthe- 
less a  better  officer  than  his  superior. 

England  did  not  proclaim  open  hostility  to  France  un- 
til the  middle  of  May,  1756,  but  her  ships  of  war,  with  no 
justification  but  a  pirate's  right,  founded  upon  might,  not 
only  despoiled  French  commerce,  but  in  opposition  to  the 
righteous  declaration  of  Frederick  of  Prussia,  that  "  free 
ships  make  free  goods" — that  by  the  law  of  nations  the 
property  of  an  enemy  can  not  be  taken  from  on  board  the 
ships  of  a  friend — forbade  neutral  vessels  to  carry  mer- 
chandise belonging  to  her  antagonist,  and  seized  it  when 
so  carried.  Thus,  under  cover  of  a  legal  representation 
made  to  the  King  in  1753,  by  the  eminent  Murray,  (after- 
ward Lord  Mansfield,)  the  British  government  commenced 
that  system  of  warfare  upon  the  commerce  of  neutrals 
which  became  a  chief  cause  of  the  last  war  for  American 
independence  sixty  years  afterward. 

Spring  had  passed  and  summer  had  begun  before  Lou- 


1756.]  INEFFICIENT     COMMANDERS.  129 

doun  was  ready  to  sail  for  America.  Abercrombie,  with 
some  regulars,  departed  toward  the  close  of  April,  and  ar- 
rived at  New  York  early  in  June.  There  he  lingered  for 
some  time  and  then  ascended  the  Hudson  to  Albany,  where 
he  met  Shirley  and  received  information  of  the  exposed  con- 
dition of  Oswego,  and  the  general  alarm  of  the  country  on 
account  of  the  depredations  of  the  Indians.  There,  also,  was 
General  Winslow,  with  seven  thousand  men,  whom  he  had 
been  commissioned  by  Shirley  to  lead  against  Crown  Point, 
and  who  were  anxious  to  press  forward,  for  the  whole  fron- 
tier was  menaced  by  the  French  and  Indians.  But  instead 
of  acting  promptly  for  the  public  good,  Abercrombie  took 
his  ease  ;  instead  of  stimulating  the  patriotism  of  the 
provincials,  he  cast  fire-brands  among  the  troops  and  the 
people  by  asserting  the  right  of  the  regular  officers  to  com- 
mand those  of  the  provincial  army  of  the  same  rank,  and 
insisting  upon  the  propriety  of  quartering  the  soldiers 
upon  the  inhabitants.  These  assumptions  caused  serious 
disputes  and  mutual  dislikes.  "  Go  back  again,"  said  Sy- 
brant  Van  Schaick,  the  mayor  of  Albany,  to  the  troops, 
when  he  became  utterly  disgusted  with  them  ;  "go  back, 
for  we  can  defend  our  frontiers  ourselves."  But  Aber- 
crombie would  not  allow  them  to  move  backward  or  for- 
ward, but  with  at  least  ten  thousand  men,  regulars  and 
provincials,  he  lay  in  supineness  at  Albany,  waiting  for  the 
Earl  of  Loudoun  and  casting  up  useless  fortifications.* 
Meanwhile  an  active  officer  had  been  performing  signal 

°  Fort  Frederick,  built  in  1746,  when  Cornelius  Schuyler  was  mayor  of 
Albany,  was  in  excellent  condition,  though  quite  an  inefficient  fortification. 
Kalm  described  it,  in  1748,  as  "a  great  building  of  stone,  surrounded  with 
high  and  thick  walls."  A  drawing  of  it  before  me  shows  it  to  have  been 
quadrangular,  with  bastions,  and  apparently  very  strong.  Its  position  was  a 
bad  one,  as  there  were  several  hills  westward  of  it  that  completely  com- 
manded it. 

6* 


130  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  23. 

service  in  the  interior  with  a  handful  of  men.  It  was  Col- 
onel John  Bradstreet,  who,  ten  years  earlier,  was  lieuten- 
ant-governor, of  St.  John's,  Newfoundland.  Shirley  had 
perceived  the  great  importance  of  keeping  open  a  com- 
munication with  Oswego,  where  an  English  garrison  was 
maintained.  For  this  purpose  forty  companies  of  boatmen 
were  placed  under  the  command  of  Bradstreet.  With 
these,  and  about  two  hundred  provincial  troops,  he  pene- 
trated the  country  toward  Oswego  at  the  close  of  spring, 
suffering  many  hardships  on  the  way.  He  went  up  the 
Mohawk  to  the  site  of  Fort  Stanwix,  which  he  assisted  in 
building  two  years  afterward.  Then  he  crossed  a  portage 
to  Wood  creek,  and  passed  through  Oneida  Lake  to  the 
Oswego  river.  After  leaving  the  lake  he  found  vigilant 
enemies,  for  the  French  and  Indians  were  hovering  around 
the  fort  at  Oswego  with  the  intention  of  making  it  a  prey. 
But  Bradstreet,  cautious  and  brave,  made  his  way  to  the 
fort,  and  placed  in  it  provisions  and  stores  for  five  thousand 
men  for  six  months. 

Captain  Schuyler,  whose  industry,  judgment,  and  faith- 
fulness in  the  performance  of  his  duties  at  Fort  Edward 
during  the  preceding  winter,  had  won  for  him  the  warmest 
esteem  of  Shirley,  accompanied  Bradstreet  as  commissary, 
on  the  strong  recommendation  of  the  commanding  general ; 
and  thus  commenced  that  intimate  relationship  which  ex- 
isted between  Bradstreet  and  Schuyler  while  they  both 
lived.  The  latter  was  only  twenty- three  years  of  age  when 
this  expedition  was  undertaken,  but  his  knowledge  of  the 
country,  obtained  in  his  previous  hunting  and  trading  ex- 
cursions, made  him  a  most  valuable  aid.  He  shared  with 
the  common  soldiers  and  the  batteau-men  the  perils  and 
privations  of  the  campaign  ;  and  when,  on  the  3d  of  July, 
as  Bradstreet  and  his  party  were  just  commencing  their 


H56.]  CHRISTIAN     CHARITY     DISPLAYED.  131 

march  from  Oswego  to  Albany,  they  were  attacked  by  a 
party  of  French  regulars,  Canadians,  and  Indians,  nine 
miles  up  the  Oswego  river,  he  displayed  an  intrepidity  and 
humanity  creditable  alike  to  a  soldier  and  a  true  man.  He 
was  one  of  eight  men  who,  with  Bradstreet  at  their  head, 
reached  a  small  island  in  the  river,  and  drove  thirty  of  the 
enemy  from  it.  One  of  them,  a  French  Canadian,  was  too 
badly  wounded  to  flee,  and  as  a  batteau-man  was  about  to 
dispatch  him  with  a  tomahawk,  Captain  Schuyler  inter- 
posed and  saved  his  life.  Just  then  forty  of  the  enemy  re- 
turned to  the  attack.  Bradstreet  and  his  party  had  been 
reinforced  by  six  men,  and  the  French  and  Indians  were  re- 
ceived so  warmly  that  they  were  compelled  to  flee.  A  few 
minutes  afterward  seventy  of  the  enemy  appeared  upon  the 
shore,  and  at  the  same  time  six  more  of  Bradstreet's  men 
joined  him.  For  a  while  the  contest  was  warm  and  the  re- 
sult doubtful.  The  enemy  poured  a  cross  fire  upon  Brad- 
street, and  twelve  of  his  followers  were  wounded.  The 
French  were  finally  compelled  to  retire,  for  the  third  time, 
and  did  not  renew  the  attack. 

About  four  hundred  of  the  enemy  were  now  seen  ap- 
proaching the  river  on  the  north  side,  a  mile  above,  with 
the  apparent  intention  of  crossing  and  surrounding  the 
provincials.  Bradstreet  immediately  quitted  the  island, 
and  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  marched  up 
to  confront  them. 

Owing  to  accident,  there  was  only  one  batteau  at  the  is- 
land when  Bradstreet  resolved  to  leave  it,  and  it  was  hardly 
sufficient  to  carry  his  party  over.  The  wounded  Canadian 
begged  to  be  taken  in,  but  was  refused.  "  Then  throw  me 
into  the  river,"  he  cried,  "  and  not  leave  me  here  to  perish 
with  hunger  and  thirst."  The  heart  of  Captain  Schuyler 
was  touched  by  the  poor  fellow's  appeal,  and  handing  his 


132  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [J$r.  23. 

weapons  and  coat  to  a  companion-in-arms,  he  bore  the 
wounded  man  to  the  water,  swam  with  him  across  the  deep 
channel,  and  placed  him  in  the  care  of  Dr.  Kirkland  with 
the  approbation  of  Bradstreet.  The  man  recovered  ;  and 
when,  in  1775,  Schuyler,  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
northern  army,  sent  a  proclamation  into  Canada  inviting 
the  French  inhabitants  to  join  the  patriots,  that  soldier 
was  living  near  Chamblee,  and  gladly  enlisted  under  the 
banner  of  Ethan  Allen,  that  he  might  see  and  thank 
the  preserver  of  his  life.  His  wish  was  gratified,  and  he 
made  himself  known  to  Schuyler  in  his  tent  at  Isle  aux 
Noix. 

Captain  Schuyler  joined  Bradstreet  and  his  party  as 
soon  as  his  wounded  prisoner  was  in  the  hands  of  the  sur- 
geon, and  he  was  in  the  severe  engagement  which  occured 
in  a  swamp  half  an  hour  afterward.  The  enemy  had  crossed 
the  river  in  considerable  numbers.  Bradstreet  attacked 
them  boldly,  and  drove  them  from  their  skulking  places  in 
the  swamp  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  leaving  them  the  al- 
ternative of  captivity  or  the  perils  of  the  flood.  Many  of 
them  rushed  into  the  river  and  were  drowned,  and  others 
were  slain.  In  this  engagement  the  provincials  lost  twenty 
killed  and  twenty-four  wounded.  Of  the  enemy  full  a  hun- 
dred perished  by  weapon  and  flood,  and  others  escaped  to 
the  forests.  "  This  repulse,"  said  a  letter- writer  of  the 
time,  "  will  doubtless  check  the  incursions  of  the  French, 
shake  their  Indian  interest,  strengthen  our  own,  and  secure 
our  future  convoys  in  their  passage  to  Oswego." 

Bradstreet  was  soon  afterward  joined  by  some  of  Shir- 
ley's grenadiers  on  their  way  to  the  fort,  and  also  by  two 
hundred  men  from  the  garrison.  Thus  reinforced  he  would 
have  gone  in  quest  of  the  main  body  of  the  French,  who 
were  eastward  upon  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  but  exces- 


U56.]  FALL     OF     OSWEGO.  133 

sive  rains  prevented.  He  made  his  way  back  to  Albany 
with  his  command,  where  he  arrived  on  the  13th  of  July, 
and  communicated  to  Abercrombie  the  important  intelli- 
gence that  a  French  army  was  on  its  way  to  attack  Oswego. 
But,  notwithstanding  the  way  was  opened,  and  Colonel 
Webb,  with  the  forty-ninth  regiment,  was  ordered  to  hold 
himself  in  readiness  to  march  to  its  defense,  nothing  was 
done.  Abercrombie  kept  his  ten  thousand  men  at  Albany 
until  the  arrival  of  the  Earl  of  Loudoun,  at  the  close  of 
July.  His  lordship  appeared  to  require  rest  after  a  sloop 
voyage  from  New  York  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  and 
he,  too,  loitered  in  Albany,  until  want  of  employment  and 
close  quarters  in  hot  weather  generated  disease  in  the  camp 
and  caused  universal  dissatisfaction  in  the  army. 

While  these  inefficient  commanders  were  wasting  time 
and  energy  at  Albany,  and  producing  great  irritation  by 
giving  superior  command  over  the  provincials  to  the  regular 
officers,  and  treating  the  former  with  contempt,  the  more  ac- 
tive French  were  accomplishing  their  designs.  The  Marquis 
de  Montcalm,  a  field-marshal  of  France,  and  an  active  of- 
ficer, had  succeeded  Dieskau  in  the  supreme  command. 
He  visited  Ticonderoga  in  July,  obtained  accurate  infor- 
mation of  the  strength  of  the  forces  and  the  weakness  of 
the  commanders  at  Albany,  and  immediately  hastened  to 
Montreal  to  collect  troops  for  an  expedition  against  Oswego. 
He  assembled  about  five  thousand  Frenchmen,  Canadians, 
and  Indians  at  Frontenac,  (now  Kingston,  in  Upper  Can- 
ada,) and  with  these,  and  thirty  pieces  of  cannon,  he  crossed 
Lake  Ontario,  and  landed  within  a  few  miles  of  Oswego 
early  in  August.  On  the  11th  he  appeared  before  Fort 
Ontario,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  demanded  the 
surrenderof  the  garrison.  Their  commander,  Colonel  Mer- 
cer, refused  compliance.     Montcalm  commenced  a  regular 


134  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  23. 

seige,  and  at  midnight  of  the  12th  he  opened  his  trenches. 
After  a  brave  resistance.  Mercer  spiked  his  cannon  and  re- 
treated to  Fort  Oswego ,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river. 
Montcalm's  guns  were  immediately  brought  to  bear  upon 
that  old  fortification.  Colonel  Mercer  was  killed,  and  on 
the  14th  the  garrison,  sixteen  hundred  in  number,  surren- 
dered. Among  the  prisoners  was  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler, 
of  New  Jersey,  mentioned  in  Philip's  letter  on  page  69. 
He  was  released  on  parole.  Forty-five  of  the  garrison  had 
been  slain,  and  the  remainder,  except  some  officers,  were 
sent  down  the  St.  Lawrence,  prisoners  of  war.  The  post, 
with  all  its  cannon,  vessels  of  war,  ammunition,  and  stores, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  The  forts  were  demol- 
ished, and  the  whole  country  of  the  Six  Nations  was  laid 
open  to  the  incursions  of  the  enemy.  Oswego  was  left  a 
solitude  ;  and  Colonel  Webb,  who  had  advanced  as  far  as 
the  Oneida  portage,  informed  of  the  fact,  fled  to  Albany, 
terror  giving  speed  to  his  movements. 

The  sluggish  blood  of  Loudoun  was  somewhat  stirred  by 
these  events.  It  was  caused  only  by  the  excitement  of  fever- 
ish alarm,  however.  He  had  troops  enough  to  have  conquered 
Canada  in  that  single  campaign,  under  an  efficient  leader, 
but  they  were  leashed  to  his  unreadiness  and  incapacity. 
After  loitering  at  Albany  a  few  weeks  longer,  recalling  the 
troops  on  their  way  toward  Ticonderoga,  and  uttering  un- 
generous and  wicked  complaints  against  the  provincials, 
expecting  therewith  to  cover  his  own  imbecility,  he  dis- 
missed them  to  their  homes,  and  ordered  the  regulars  into 
winter  quarters.  A  thousand  of  them  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  opened  afresh  the  bitter  controversy  of  the  colo- 
nists with  the  home  government  by  demanding  quarters  for 
his  troops.  When  Mayor  Cruger,  in  the  name  of  the  peo- 
ple, demurred  at  the  demand  made  for  free  quarters  for  the 


1756.]  INDIANS     CHASTISED.  135 

officers,  Loudoun  uttered  a  coarse  oath,  and  said,  "  If  you 
do  not  billet  my  officers  upon  free  quarters  this  day,  I  '11 
order  here  all  the  troops  in  North  America  under  my  com- 
mand, and  billet  them  myself  upon  the  city."  Loudoun 
spoke  by  authority,  for  an  order  in  council,  after  more  than 
half  a  century  of  recommendation  from  the  Board  of  Trade, 
was  passed  in  July,  1756,  establishing  a  rule,  without  lim- 
itation, that  troops  might  be  kept  in  the  colonies  and 
quartered  on  them  at  pleasure,  without  the  consent  of  the 
colonial  Legislatures.  This  order,  virtually  establishing  a 
standing  army  in  the  colonies,  to  be  maintained,  in  a  great 
measure,  by  the  people,  was  the  magnetic  touch  that  gave 
vitality  to  that  sentiment  of  resistance  which  soon  sounded 
the  tocsin  of  revolution.  The  authorities  of  New  York 
yielded  temporarily  to  Loudoun's  demand,  under  a  silent 
but  most  solemn  protest. 

Military  operations,  under  Loudoun's  administration, 
were  quite  as  inefficient  elsewhere  as  in  the  province  of 
New  York.  Washington  was  at  the  head  of  fifteen  hundred 
volunteers  and  drafted  militia,  but  was  made  powerless  by 
official  interference  ;  and  the  only  important  achievement 
on  the  part  of  the  English  during  the  year,  excepting  the 
operations  of  Bradstreet,  was  the  severe  chastisement  of 
the  Delawares  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  by  some  provin- 
cial troops,  under  Colonel  John  Armstrong,  of  that  pro- 
vince. The  chief  rendezvous  of  the  Indians,  near  the 
Kittanning  mountains,  thirty-five  miles  from  Fort  Du 
Quesne,  was  assailed  by  Armstrong  and  his  party,  with 
whom  was  Captain  (afterward  general)  Hugh  Mercer  of 
Virginia,  on  the  night  of  the  8th  of  September.  The  lead- 
ing chief  of  the  savages  was  killed,  the  town  was  destroyed, 
and  the  offending  Delawares  were  completely  humbled. 
Thus  ended  the  campaign  of  1756.     The  French  still  held 


136  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  23. 

in  possession  almost  all  of  the  territory  in  dispute  and  the 
most  important  of  their  military  posts. 

Captain  Schuyler  was  so  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the 
military  operations  of  the  year  that  he  left  the  service  at 
the  end  of  the  campaign,  and  remained  in  private  life  dur- 
ing the  stirring  events  in  northern  New  York  in  1757. 
Yet  he  was  not  an  indifferent  nor  an  idle  spectator.  Be- 
tween himself  and  Colonel  Bradstreet  there  was  a  strong 
attachment,  and  Captain  Schuyler  was  frequently  employed 
as  counselor,  and  sometimes  as  efficient  actor  in  providing 
supplies  for  the  army.  He  had  also  become  a  favorite  with 
Sir  William  Johnson,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  baronet 
offered  him  the  position  of  a  deputy  superintendent  of  In- 
dian affairs,  when,  in  the  spring  of  1757,  Sir  William  ex- 
pected to  take  the  field  with  Mohawk  warriors. 

Loudon  called  a  military  council  at  Boston  in  January, 
1757.  It  assembled  on  the  19th,  when  his  Lordship  pro- 
posed to  confine  the  operations  of  that  year  to  an  expedi- 
tion against  Louisburg,  and  to  a  defense  of  the  northern 
frontiers.  The  northern  colonies,  and  especially  those  of 
New  England,  were  disappointed.  Their  favorite  scheme 
was  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from  Lake  Champlain, 
and,  if  possible,  from  the  territory  south  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. The  New  England  representatives  in  the  council 
urged  the  importance  of  such  a  result,  but  in  vain.  Lou- 
don was  imperious,  and  had  very  little  respect  for  the  opin- 
ions of  any  provincial.  Wiser  and  better  men  than  he 
acquiesced  in  his  plans,  but  deplored  the  poverty  of  his 
judgment  and  his  lack  of  executive  force.  But  the  general 
ardor  of  the  colonists  was  not  abated,  and  the  call  for 
troops  was  so  promptly  responded  to,  that  at  the  opening 
of  summer  more  than  six  thousand  provincials  were  in 
arms.     Much  might  have  been  done  toward  wiping  out  the 


1151.]     EXPEDITION     AGAINST     LOUISBUEG.     137 

disgrace  of  the  previous  year,  had  efficient  men  been  at  the 
head  of  civil  affairs,  in  England,  and  a  good  general  con- 
trolled military  operations  in  America.  The  silly  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  who  was  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  Cape 
Breton,  on  which  the  fortress  of  Louisburg  was  situated, 
was  an  island,  was  the  prime  minister  of  England.  He  read 
Loudoun's  dispatches  "  with  great  attention  and  satisfac- 
tion," and  praised  his  "  great  diligence  and  ability,"  while 
Loudoun  himself  was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  disgust  the 
colonists  by  laying  an  embargo  upon  all  ships  in  North 
American  ports,  preventing  the  exportation  of  Avheat,  and, 
as  was  alleged,  sharing  in  the  enormous  profits  of  the  con- 
tractors who  supplied  the  army  and  navy  with  flour. 

Loudoun  resolved  to  go  to  Louisburg  in  person.  He 
ordered  Colonel  Boquet  to  watch  the  frontiers  of  the  Car- 
olinas  ;  gave  General  Stanwix  control  of  the  western  thea- 
ter of  war,  with  about  two  thousand  troops  ;  and  making 
General  Webb  his  second  in  command,  sent  him,  with  six 
thousand  men,  to  defend  the  frontiers  of  New  York  and 
keep  the  French  from  Forts  William  Henry  and  Edward. 

After  impressing  four  hundred  men  at  New  York,  Lou- 
doun sailed  for  Halifax  on  the  20th  of  June.  He  arrived 
at  his  destination  ten  days  afterward,  and  found  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  well-appointed  army  of  ten  thousand  men, 
with  a  fleet  of  sixteen  ships  of  the  line  and  several  frigates. 
With  his  usual  procrastination  he  laid  out  a  parade  at 
Halifax,  planted  a  vegetable  garden  for  the  use  of  his  ar- 
mament, exercised  his  troops  in  mock  battles,  and  thus 
consumed  the  precious  summer  months.  His  officers, 
among  whom  was  Charles  Lee,  afterward  a  major-general 
in  the  continental  army  under  Washington,  became  mor- 
tified and  exasperated  ;  and  Major  General  Lord  Charles 
Hay  expressed  his  contempt  so  loudly  as  to  be  arrested. 


138  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  22. 

He  said  that  the  commander-in-chief  was  "keeping  the 
courage  of  his  Majesty's  soldiers  at  bay,  and  expending  the 
nation's  wealth  in  planting  cabbages,  when  they  ought  to 
have  been  righting  the  enemies  of  their  king  and  country  in 
reality. " 

August  came,  and  Loudoun  was  about  to  sail  for  Louis- 
burg,  when  he  was  informed  that  the  French  had  one  more 
ship  than  he,  and  a  reinforcement  in  the  garrison.  This 
alarmed  his  lordship,  and  he  changed  the  plan  of  the  cam- 
paign and  sailed  for  New  York,  to  be  met  on  the  way  by 
intelligence  of  disasters  on  Lake  George  and  the  failure  of 
all  his  weak  plans. 

The  vigilant  and  active  Montcalm  had  again  carried 
away  trophies  of  victory  from  the  English.  The  French 
partisans  in  the  field  were  vigilant,  active,  and  brave. 
Marin,  who  in  1745  desolated  Saratoga,  was  upon  the 
war-path  with  Canadians  and  Indians.  Early  in  the  sum- 
mer, with  two  hundred  men,  he  penetrated  almost  to  Fort 
Edward,  and  his  savage  allies  carried  back  to  Ticonderoga 
the  scalps  of  forty  provincials.  Meanwhile  Montcalm  was 
preparing  a  powerful  armament  at  Ticonderoga.  Toward 
the  close  of  July  he  was  at  the  foot  of  Lake  George  with 
more  than  eight  thousand  men,  (of  whom  almost  two 
thousand  were  Indians,)  and  a  train  of  artillery,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  besiege  Fort  William  Henry,  at  the  head  of  the 
lake,  then  garrisoned  by  five  hundred  men,  under  Colonel 
Munro,  a  brave  English  officer,  who  was  supported  by  an 
intrenched  camp  inclosing  nearly  two  thousand  provincial 
soldiers. 

Montcalm  appeared  before  Fort  William  Henry  on  the 
2d  of  August,  and  planted  a  battery  of  nine  cannon  and 
two  mortars,  and  then  demanded  a  surrender.  Colonel 
Munro.  confident  of  efficient  aid  from  Colonel  Webb,  then 


1755.]      FALL     OF     FORT     WILLIAM     HENRY.         139 

at  Fort  Edward  with  four  thousand  men,  and  to  whom  he 
had  sent  an  express  on  the  approach  of  Montcalm,  promptly 
refused.  But  that  confidence  in  his  commanding  general 
was  sadly  misplaced.  For  six  days  Montcalm  continued 
the  siege,  and  every  hour  Munro  expected  aid  from  Fort 
Edward,  for  expresses,  at  great  peril  to  the  riders,  were 
sent  to  General  Webb  daily.  But  no  reinforcements  were 
sent.  Even  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  had  obtained  Webb's 
reluctant  consent  to  hasten  toward  Lake  George,  and  had 
proceeded  several  miles  with  a  corps  of  provincials  and 
Putnam's  Eangers,  was  ordered  back.  Nothing  was  sent 
to  Munro  but  a  letter  filled  with  exaggerations  and  advice 
to  surrender.  This  fell  into  Montcalm's  hands  just  as  he 
was  about  to  raise  the  siege  and  retire.  He  then  made  a 
peremptory  demand  for  a  surrender,  at  the  same  time  send- 
ing Webb's  letter  in  to  Munro.  That  brave  officer  still 
hesitated,  notwithstanding  half  his  cannon  were  useless 
and  his  ammunition  was  exhausted.  But  he  was  com- 
pelled to  yield.  Montcalm  made  honorable  terms,  for  he 
respected  a  brave  soldier.  The  English  were  to  depart 
under  an  escort,  on  a  pledge  not  to  serve  against  the  French 
during  the  next  eighteen  months.  To  insure  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  capitulation  on  the  part  of  the  victors,  Mont- 
calm called  the  Indian  leaders  into  council  and  obtained 
their  acquiescence.  The  garrison  marched  out  on  the  9th 
of  August  and  retired  to  their  intrenched  camp,  where  the 
ruins  of  Fort  George  may  now  be  seen,  and  the  French 
took  possession.  That  night  was  one  of  anxiety  for  the 
captives.  From  English  suttlers  the  Indians  procured  li- 
quor. Intoxication  followed.  Their  passions  were  inflamed, 
and  in  the  morning,  when  the  prisoners  on  parole  departed 
for  Fort  Edward,  the  savages  fell  upon  them  to  plunder 
and  destroy.     The  French  could  not  restrain  them,  and  in 


140  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [M?.  24. 

great  confusion  and  terror  the  survivors  fled  to  Fort  Ed- 
ward. The  fort  and  all  its  appendages  were  laid  in  ruins, 
and  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  nothing  marked  its  site  but 
the  remains  of  its  intrenchments.  Now  an  immense  hotel 
occupies  the  ground,  and  thousands  spend  the  summer 
months  there  in  gayety,  unconscious  of  the  sanguinary  as- 
sociations that  cluster  around  the  locality. 

Webb  was  undoubtedly  a  coward.  When  Fort  Wil- 
liam Henry  fell  he  sent  his  own  baggage  to  a  place  of 
safety  far  down  the  Hudson,  and  would  have  retreated  to 
the  Highlands  had  not  young  Lord  Howe,  who  arrived  at 
Fort  Edward  on  the  7th,  persuaded  him  that  he  and  his 
command  were  in  no  immediate  danger.  And  Loudoun, 
utterly  confused,  proposed  to  encamp  on  Long  Island,  two 
hundred  miles  from  Lake  George,  "  for  the  defense  of  the 
continent." 

The  position  of  affairs  in  America  now  alarmed  the  Eng- 
lish people.  The  government  of  the  aristocracy  had  para- 
lyzed the  energies  of  the  whole  empire,  and  both  America 
and  England  were  humbled  by  the  events  of  the  summer  of 
1757.  "We  are  undone,"  said  Chesterfield,  "at  home  by 
our  increasing  expenses  ;  abroad  by  ill-luck  and  incapac- 
ity." In  America  there  was  much  irritation.  Thoroughly 
imbued  with  democratic  ideas,  and  knowing  their  compe- 
tency, unaided  by  royal  troops,  to  assert  and  maintain 
their  rights,  they  regarded  the  interference  of  the  home 
government,  in  their  quarrel  with  the  French,  as  an  imped- 
iment to  their  success.  Some  of  the  royal  governors  were 
rapacious,  others  were  incompetent,  and  all  were  distin- 
guished by  a  haughty  demeanor  toward  the  colonists, 
highly  offensive  to  their  just  dignity  as  freemen.  They 
demanded  money  as  a  master  would  command  the  service 
of  his  slave ;  and  the  arrogant  assumption  of  superiority 


1757.]  PITT     PRIME     MINISTER.  141 

by  the  English  officers  disgusted  the  provincial  officers  and 
troops,  and  often  cooled  the  ardor  of  whole  regiments  of 
brave  Americans. 

The  people  of  England  yearned  for  a  change  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  public  affairs,  and  the  popular  will  at  length 
prevailed.  William  Pitt,  by  far  the  ablest  statesman  Eng- 
land had  yet  produced,  was  called  to  the  position  of  prime 
minister  in  June,  1757,  after  a  struggle  of  eleven  weeks, 
during  which  time  the  realm  had  no  ministry.  "  Give  me 
your  confidence,"  said  Pitt  to  the  King,  "  and  I  will  de- 
serve it."  "  Deserve  my  confidence,"  the  King  replied, 
"  and  you  shall  have  it." 

Pitt  knew  that  it  was  the  voice  of  the  people  that  had 
called  him  to  the  head  of  affairs,  and  for  the  welfare  of  that 
people  and  the  realm,  he  wrought.  Patriotism,  energy,  and 
good  judgment  marked  every  movement  of  his  administra- 
tion, especially  in  measures  for  prosecuting  the  war  in  Amer- 
ica. He  could  not  hear  from  Loudoun,  or  know  what  he 
was  about,  so  he  recalled  him,  and  gave  the  chief  command 
in  America  to  Abercrombie.  Kelying  upon  the  spontane- 
ous patriotism  of  the  colonists,  he  obtained  the  King's 
order  that  every  provincial  officer,  of  no  higher  rank  than 
colonel,  should  have  equal  command  with  the  British,  ac- 
cording to  dates  of  commission.  Instead  of  demanding  aid 
from  the  colonies,  he  issued  a  letter  to  the.  several  govern- 
ments, asking  them  to  raise  and  clothe  twenty  thousand 
men.  He  promised,  in  the  name  of  the  Parliament,  to 
furnish  arms,  tents,  and  provisions  for  them  ;  and  also  to 
reimburse  the  several  colonies  all  the  money  they  should 
expend  in  raising  and  clothing  the  levies.  He  arranged 
such  an  admirable  militia  system  for  home  defense,  that  a 
large  number  of  the  troops  of  the  domestic  standing  army 
could  be  spared  for  foreign  service.     A  large  naval  arma- 


142  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  £^JT.  24 

ment,  for  American  waters,  was  prepared  and  placed  under 
the  command  of  Admiral  Boscawen  ;  and  twelve  thousand 
additional  English  troops  were  allotted  for  service  in 
America. 

The  liberal  offers  of  the  minister  and  the  generous  pre- 
parations of  strength  had  a  magical  effect  in  the  colonies. 
New  England  alone  raised  fifteen  thousand  men  ;  New 
York  furnished  about  three  thousand  ;  New  Jersey  one 
thousand  ;  Pennsylvania  about  three  thousand,  and  Vir- 
ginia over  two  thousand.  Royal  American  troops,  as  they 
were  called,  organized  in  the  Carolinas,  were  ordered  to  the 
North,  and  when,  in  May,  1758,  Abercrombie  took  formal 
command  of  the  army,  he  found  fifty  thousand  men,  regu- 
lars and  provincials,  at  his  disposal — a  number  greater  than 
the  whole  male  j>opulation  in  the  French  dominions  in 
America  at  that  time. 

The  scheme  for  the  campaign  of  1758  was  extensive. 
Shirley's  plan  of  1756  was  revived,  and  its  genera]  outlines 
were  adopted.  Three  points  of  assault — Louisburg,  Ticon- 
deroga,  and  Fort  Du  Quesne — were  designated,  and  ample 
preparations  were  made  for  powerful  operations  against 
them.  Upon  Louisburg  the  first  blow  was  to  be  struck, 
and  General  Jeffrey  Amherst,  a  man  of  good  judgment 
and  discretion,  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a  land 
force  of  more  than  twelve  thousand  men,  destined  for  that 
enterprise.  These  were  to  be  borne  by  the  fleet  of  Admiral 
Boscawen.  Abercrombie,  assisted  by  Lord  Howe,  whom 
Pitt  had  chosen  as  "  the  soul  of  the  enterprise,"  was  to 
lead  an  army  by  way  of  Albany  to  attack  the  French  on 
Lake  Champlain,  while  General  Joseph  Forbes  was  commis- 
sioned to  lead  another  army  over  the  Alleghany  mountains 
to  capture  Fort  Du  Quesne. 

The  first  of  these  expeditions  was  very  successful,  and 


1758.]  SURRENDER     OF     LOUISBURG.  143 

gave  encouragement  to  the  actors  in  the  others.  Boscawen 
arrived  at  Halifax  with  his  fleet  of  forty  armed  vessels, 
and  the  land  forces  under  Amherst,  early  in  May.  General 
Wolfe,  a  young  man  but  thirty-one  years  of  age,  but  who 
had  already  won  imperishable  laurels  in  the  army,  was 
Amherst's  lieutenant.  He,  too,  like  Howe  with  Abercrom- 
bie,  was  chosen  to  be  the  active  spirit  of  the  enterprise,  and 
well  did  he  acquit  himself  on  this  occasion  and  afterward. 

The  expedition  left  Halifax  on  the  28th  of  May.  and 
on  the  8th  of  June  the  troops  landed,  without  encounter- 
ing much  opposition,  on  the  shore  of  Gabarus  bay,  near 
the  city  of  Louisburg.  Their  appearance  was  unexpected 
to  the  French,  who,  in  alarm,  fled  from  their  outposts  and 
retired  within  the  fortress.  The  attack  upon  that  fortress 
and  the  French  shipping  soon  commenced,  and  the  contest, 
in  various  forms,  continued  for  fifty  days.  The  French 
made  a  vigorous  resistance,  but  were  finally  compelled  to 
yield,  when  nearly  all  the  shipping  in  the  harbor  was  des- 
troyed. The  fort,  town,  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  on 
which  they  stood,  with  the  adjoining  island  of  St.  John, 
(now  Prince  Edward,)  and  their  dependencies,  were  sur- 
rendered to  the  English  by  capitulation  on  the  26th  of 
July.  Five  thousand  prisoners  were  the  immediate  re- 
sults of  the  triumph,  and  the  spoils  consisted  of  a  large 
quantity  of  munitions  of  war.  The  English,  by  this  vic- 
tory, became  masters  of  the  eastern  coast  from  their  own 
possessions  almost  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  and 
when  Louisburg  fell  the  French  dominion  in  America  be- 
gan to  wane.  From  that  moment  its  decline  was  contin- 
uous and  rapid. 

Quebec  had  been  included  in  the  scheme  of  conquest. 
Its  reduction  was  to  follow  that  of  Louisburg  ;  but  when 
the  vietory  at  the  latter  was  accomplished,  the  season  was 


144  PHILIP     SCHUYLER. 


[Mt.  25. 


too  far  advanced  to  attempt  Quebec.  Indeed,  disasters  on 
Lake  Champlain,  which  we  shall  presently  consider,  caused 
the  reception  of  a  message  by  Amherst  which  called  him 
in  that  direction  rather  than  to  the  more  northern  field  of 
operations. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Captain  Schuyler  again  appeared  in  public  life  in 
the  spring  of  1758,  in  connection  with  his  friend,  Colonel 
Bradstreet,  who  had  been  active  at  Albany  during  the  pre- 
vious year  as  deputy  quartermaster  general.  Lord  Howe, 
whose  regiment  was  quartered  on  Long  Island,  had  spent 
much  of  the  winter  at  Albany,  (where  Abercrombie  re- 
mained,) making  preparations,  first  for  a  winter  attack 
upon  Ticonderoga,  and  finally  for  the  next  summer's  cam- 
paign. His  was  a  lovely  character,  and  he  had  endeared 
himself  to  the  soldiers  and  the  people.  At  the  Flats  he 
was  "  Aunt  Schuyler's"  frequent  and  most  welcome  visitor. 
Her  husband  had  died  of  pleurisy  in  Februrary,  1757,  but 
the  hospitalities  of  his  house  were  continued  by  his  widow. 

After  the  death  of  Colonel  Schuyler,  Philip  and  his 
wife,  with  their  infant  children,  spent  much  time  at  the 
Flats.  The  younger  of  the  infants  at  the  beginning  of 
1758  was  Elizabeth,  who  became  the  wife  of  the  eminent 
Alexander  Hamilton,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  more  than 
ninety-six  years.  It  was  there  that  Captain  Schuyler  and 
Lord  Howe  formed  an  intimate  relationship  as  friends. 
Their  mutual  attachment,  growing  out  of  wise  apprecia- 
tion, was  very  strong  ;  and  when  the  former  was  assured 
that  his  noble  friend  was  appointed  Abercrombie's  lieuten- 
ant, and  would  be  the  active  spirit  of  the  expedition  against 
the  French  on  Lake  Champlain,  he  resolved  to  join  the 

7 


146  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  25. 

provincial  army,  and  share  the  fortunes  of  the  campaign. 
At  the  urgent  solicitation  of  Colonel  Bradstreet,  he  ac- 
cepted the  office  of  deputy  commissary  with  the  rank  of 
major. 

As  early  as  March,  when  Bradstreet,  warmly  supported 
by  the  zealous  Howe,  proposed  an  expedition  against  Fron- 
tenac,  Major  Schuyler  entered  upon  his  duties,  and  from 
that  time  until  the  close  of  the  campaign  he  was  contin- 
ually m  the  public  service.  It  had  been  determined  that  a 
strong  force  should  march  upon  Frontenac  as  soon  as  the 
army  should  be  established  upon  .Lake  Champlain,  and  to 
promote  this  enterprise  the  New  York  officers  and  soldiers 
bent  their  best  energies.  But  these  were  continually  para- 
lyzed by  the  indolence  and  absurd  interferences  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  it  was  late  in  June  before  the  army 
destined  for  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga  had  collected  at 
Fort  Edward,  the  designated  place  of  rendezvous. 

Lord  Howe  was  a  Lycurgus  of  the  camp.  He  intro- 
duced stern  reforms,  which  commended  themselves  to  the 
common  sense  of  his  associates,  but  which  caused  the  in- 
credulous shaking  of  the  big-wigs  of  the  elders,  who  made 
innovation  and  sacrilege  convertible  terms.  He  labored  to 
conform  the  methods  of  the  service  to  its  wants  in  this  new 
country.  Laying  aside  pride  and  prejudice,  he  applied  for 
advice  to  those  whose  experience  and  observation  entitled 
them  to  respect.  He  forbade  in  his  own  regiment  all  dis- 
plays of  gold  and  scarlet  in  the  rugged  marches  of  the 
army,  and  led  the  proposed  new  fashion  himself,  by  wear- 
ing a  plain  short-skirted  ammunition  coat.  He  ordered 
the  muskets  to  be  shortened,  that  they  might  be  used  with 
more  freedom  in  the  forests  ;  and  to  prevent  the  discovery 
of  his  corps  by  the  glitter  of  the  barrels,  he  directed  that 
portion  of  their  weapons  to  be  painted  black.     To  preserve 


1T58/J  LORD     HOWE'S     REFORMS.  147 

the  legs  of  his  men  from  briers  and  the  bite  of  insects  he 
caused  them  to  wear  buckskin  or  strong  woolen  cloth  leg- 
gins,  such  as  were  used  by  the  Indians.  The  innovation 
most  deprecated  by  the  young  men  of  his  corps,  who  took 
great  pride  in  their  long,  abundant  powdered  hair,  was  his 
order  for  them  all  to  have  their  locks  cut  short,  that  they 
might  not  become  wet  and  produce  maladies  when  the 
owners  slept  upon  the  damp  ground  or  marched  in  storms. 
But  Lord  Howe,  whose  hair  was  fine  and  abundant,  set  the 
example  in  this  as  in  other  movements,  and  had  his  own 
locks  cropped  short.  He  also  abolished  the  use  of  chairs, 
tables,  and  other  things  used  in  the  tents,  because  it  would 
be  almost  impossible  to  carry  them  through  the  wilderness 
which  the  army  was  about  to  penetrate  ;  and  he  set  his  of- 
ficers an  example  one  day,  when  he  had  invited  them  to 
dine  with  him.  They  found  him  in  his  tent  to  welcome 
them.  The  ground  was  covered  with  bear  skins,  and  there 
was  a  log  for  each  of  the  guests  to  sit  upon,  after  the  man- 
ner of  his  lordship.  Presently  his  servants  set  a  large 
dish  of  pork  and  beans  in  their  midst,  when  his  lordship 
took  a  sheath  from  his  pocket,  containing  a  knife  and  fork, 
and  with  them  he  proceeded  to  distribute  the  food.  The 
guests  sat  in  awkward  surprise,  for  they  had  neither  knife 
nor  fork.  They  were  soon  relieved  by  the  host  presenting 
each  with  a  similar  sheath  and  contents.  To  each  man  of 
his  regiment  he  also  furnished  a  quantity  of  powdered  gin- 
ger, with  orders  to  mix  it  with  their  water  when  on  weary 
marches,  and  not  to  stoop  down,  as  was  customary,  and 
drink  from  the  streams.  This  precaution  saved  many  lives, 
and  kept  off  agues  when  these  troops  were  in  swampy 
places. 

Through  the  activity  of  Bradstreet,  assisted  by  Major 
Schuyler,  the  batteaus  for  carrying  the  troops  over  Lake 


148  PHILIP     SCHUYLER, 


[Mt.  25. 


George  were  ready  by  the  time  the  necessary  stores  ar- 
rived from  England,  and  before  the  end  of  June  Lord 
Howe  led  the  first  division  of  four  thousand  men  to  the 
head  of  the  lake.  Abercrombie  arrived  there  with  the 
remainder  at  the  beginning  of  July.  His  entire  force  at 
the  head  of  the  lake  then  consisted  of  seven  thousand 
regulars,  nine  thousand  provincials,  and  a  heavy  train  of 
artillery.  Montcalm  then  occupied  Ticonderoga  with  less 
than  four  thousand  men. 

The  provincial  troops  were  chiefly  from  New  England, 
New  York,  and  New  Jersey  ;  and  among  the  former  were 
Stark,  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Putnam,  of  Connecticut, 
the  former  now  promoted  to  captain,  and  the  latter  to 
major.  These  were  men  who  were  afterward  to  fill  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  history  of  their  country.  There  was 
Gage,  likewise,  who,  in  later  years,  was  the  executor  of  his 
royal  master's  will  in  oppressing  the  Bostonians.  Five 
hundred  rangers  were  under  his  command.  And  there 
was  the  bold  Rogers,  too,  the  ever  brave  partisan,  at  the 
head  of  four  hundred  others,  gallant  like  himself,  who  all 
the  spring  had  been  scouting  among  the  mountains,  and 
performing  deeds  of  daring  which  the  world  knows  little 
of.  With  a  part  of  these  he  had  passed  over  Lake  George 
in  five  whale-boats,  and  in  company  with  Captain  Jacob 
(Nawnawapateonks,)  and  a  party  of  Mohegan  Indians  had 
fully  reconnoitered  the  French  works  at  Ticonderoga. 

Before  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  July,  the 
whole  armament  under  Abercrombie  proceeded  to  embark 
on  Lake  George,  in  nine  hundred  batteaus  and  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  whale-boats.  The  artillery  was  placed  upon 
rafts,  and  before  ten  o'clock  the  immense  flotilla  moved 
majestically  down  the  lake,  led  by  Lord  Howe  in  a  large 
boat,  accompanied  by  a  guard  of  rangers.     Brads treet  was 


1758.]    ARMED    FLOTILLA    ON    LAKE    GEORGE.    149 

in  the  boat  with  Lord  Howe  ;  Schuyler  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  lake,  to  superintend  the  forwarding  of  supplies 
for  the  use  trf  the  army. 

Seldom  has  a  scene  more  imposing  than  this  been  looked 
upon  in  America.  The  day  was  bright  and  warm,  the  waters 
of  the  lake  still  and  clear  as  crystal,  and  around  them  lay 
the  lofty,  everlasting  hills,  covered  with  the  green  forest 
from  their  summits  to  the  water's  edge,  and  echoing  the 
sounds  of  martial  music,  which,  toward  evening,  fell  faintly 
and  mysteriously  upon  the  ears  of  the  French  scouts  in  the 
direction  of  Ticonderoga.  In  that  stately  procession  the 
regular  troops  occupied  the  centre  of  the  flotilla,  and  the 
provincials  formed  the  wings.  Over  all  waved  the  bright 
banners  of  the  regiments  ;  and  floating  proudly  from  a  staff 
in  the  barge  of  the  commander-in-chief,  was  the  royal  flag 
of  England  with  its  union  crosses. 

As  the  flotilla  approached  the  narrows  of  the  lake  an 
order  for  silence  went  from  boat  to  boat.  The  trumpet, 
fife,  and  drum  were  dismissed ;  the  oars  were  all  muffled, 
every  voice  was  subdued  to  a  whisper,  and  as  the  sun  went 
down  in  glory,  and  the  bright  stars  came  out  in  a  serene 
sky,  the  movement  of  the  armament  was  so  silent  that  not 
a  scout  upon  the  hills  appears  to  have  observed  them. 

The  flotilla  reached  Sabbath-day  Point,  a  low  promon- 
tory on  the  western  shore,  just  as  the  twilight  was  fading 
into  night,  and  there  the  army  landed  and  rested  five  hours. 
Lord  Howe  pitched  his  tent  there,  and  during  the  evening 
he  sent  for  Captain  Stark.  Reclining  upon  his  bear  skin 
bed,  he  talked  with  the  Captain  long  and  seriously  respect- 
ing Ticonderoga,  the  French  works  there,  the  best  mode 
of  attack,  and  the  probabilities  of  success.  They  supped 
together ;  and  before  Stark  left,  Lord  Howe  gave  orders 
for  the  rangers  to  carry  the  bridge  at  the  falls  between 


150  PHILIP     SCHUYLEK.  [Mt.  25. 

Lake  George  and  the  plains  of  Ticonderoga  on  the  follow- 
ing day. 

Soon  after  midnight  the  army  moved  silently  on  ;  Lord 
Howe,  doubtless  meditating  upon  the  chances  of  war  and 
the  glory  to  be  won,  had  not  slept,  and  at  early  dawn,  ac- 
companied by  Colonel  Bradstreet  and  Major  Kogers,  he 
pushed  forward  to  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  land- 
ing place  at  the  foot  of  the  lake.  There  he  discovered  a 
French  picket.  The  whole  army  soon  afterward  appeared, 
and  the  first  intimation  that  the  French  outposts  received 
of  the  proximity  of  an  enemy,  was  the  full  blaze  of  their 
scarlet  uniforms  in  the  morning  sun.  At  twelve  o'clock 
the  landing  was  effected  in  a  cove  on  the  western  side  of 
the  lake. 

The  outlet  of  Lake  George  forms  a  winding,  rapid  river, 
less  than  four  miles  in  length,  and  falling,  in  that  distance, 
about  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  It  connects  Lake  George 
with  Lake  Champlain,  having  a  mountain  over  eight  hun- 
dred feet  in  height  on  the  western  side  of  its  mouth,  and  a 
rocky  promontory,  rising  more  than  a  hundred  feet,  on  the 
eastern  side.  This  promontory  was  called  Ticonderoga, 
and  upon  its  highest  point  the  French  had  built  a  fort, 
which  they  named  Carillon*  It  was  substantially  built 
of  limestone,  with  which  the  promontory  abounds,  and  was 
constructed  with  so  much  skill  that  a  small  garrison  might 
make  a  respectable  defense  against  quite  a  large  army.  On 
the  extreme  point  of  the  promontory  was  a  grenadier's  bat- 
tery. Northward  of  the  fort  were  marshes  and  wet  mea- 
dows, over  which  it  was  difficult  to  pass,  and  the  only  solid 

*  Ticonderoga,  or  Tionderoga,  is  a  corruption  of  Cheonderoga,  an  Iroquois 
word  signifying  sounding  water,  in  allusion  to  the  roar  of  the  falls  in  the  outlet 
of  Lake  George.  The  French  named  their  fort  Carillon  for  the  same  reason, 
that  word,  in  their  language,  signifying  chime,  jingling,  noise,  brawling,  scold- 
ing, racket,  clatter,  riot. 


1758.]  DEATH    OF    LORD    HOWE.  151 

way,  from  the  northwest,  was  over  quite  a  narrow  isthmus. 
Across  this  the  French  had  placed  extensive  outworks. 
They  had  also  huilt  mills  at  the  falls,  and  posted  some 
troops  there  ;  and  they  had  stationed  a  picket  guard  at 
the  foot  of  Lake  George. 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  belligerents  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  6th  of  July,  when  the  troops  under  Abercrombie 
landed  and  took  up  their  line  of  march  toward  Ticonde- 
roga  in  four  columns,  leaving  behind  their  artillery,  provi- 
sions, and  baggage.  The  French  advanced  guard  fled  when 
the  British  landed,  setting  fire  to  the  bridges  and  carrying 
alarm  to  the  fort.  This  movement,  and  intelligence  that 
Montcalm  was  in  hourly  expectation  of  a  strong  reinforce- 
ment under  De  Levi,  caused  Abercrombie  thus  to  disen- 
cumber his  army  and  press  forward  to  an  immediate  attack. 
But  the  country  was  covered  with  such  a  dense  forest,  in 
which  lay  occasional  morasses,  that  the  progress  of  the 
British  was  very  slow.  Their  guides  were  incompetent, 
and  the  moving  columns,  following  these  bewildered  leaders, 
frequently  encountered  each  other  and  became  broken  and 
confused.  In  this  manner  they  had  proceeded  about  two 
miles,  and  were  crossing  a  brook  within  sound  of  the  rushing 
waters  of  Cheonderoga,  when  the  right  center,  commanded 
by  Lord  Howe  in  person,  came  suddenly  upon  a  French 
party  of  about  three  hundred  men,  who  had  lost  their  way 
and  had  been  wandering  in  the  forest  for  twelve  hours.  A 
skirmish  immediately  ensued.  Both  parties  fought  bravely, 
but  the  wearied  Frenchmen  were  overcome.  Some  of  them 
were  killed,  some  were  drowned  in  the  stream,  and  more 
than  one  half  of  them  were  made  prisoners.  At  the  first 
fire  Lord  Howe  was  struck  by  a  musket  ball  and  expired 
immediately.     His  fall  produced  dismay  in  his  soldiers, 


152  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  25. 

and  the  British  columns,  broken,  confused,  and  fatigued, 
marched  back  to  the  landing  to  bivouac  for  the  night. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  7th,  Colonel  Bradstreet, 
with  Kogers'  rangers,  advanced,  rebuilt  the  bridges,  and 
before  noon  took  possession  of  the  saw  mills.  Abercrom- 
bie  then  advanced  to  that  point  with  the  whole  army,  and 
sent  out  Clerk,  his  chief  engineer,  to  reconnoiter  the  French 
works.  He  was  accompanied  by  Captain  Stark  with  a  part 
of  Kogers'  rangers.  All  returned  the  same  evening.  Clerk 
reported  the  French  works  to  be  deceptive.  They  appeared 
strong,  but  were  in  reality  very  weak  and  unsubstantial. 
The  practiced  eye  of  Stark  had  a  different  perception,  and 
he  averred  that  the  works  were  well  finished,  and  that  pre- 
parations for  defense  were  ample.  With  his  usual  contempt 
for  the  provincials,  Abercrombie  paid  no  attention  to  Stark's 
opinion,  and  resolved  to  press  forward  to  the  attack  the 
next  morning,  without  waiting  for  his  cannon.  This  was 
his  fatal  mistake. 

At  daybreak  of  the  8th,  Sir  William  Johnson  joined 
Abercrombie  with  four  hundred  and  forty  Indians,  and  be- 
fore sunrise  the  British  forces  were  moving  toward  the 
French  works,  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut  troops  forming 
a  rear  guard. 

Through  his  scouts  Montcalm  had  watched  these  move- 
ments. On  the  day  that  the  British  landed  he  called  in  all 
of -his  troops  at  outposts,  and  prepared  for  a  desperate  de- 
fense. His  force  in  Fort  Carillon  and  upon  the  out-works 
did  not  exceed  three  thousand  men,  but  on  the  evening  of 
the  7th,  De  Levi  returned  from  an  intended  expedition 
against  the  Mohawks,  with  four  hundred  followers.  With 
this  reinforcement  Montcalm  felt  confident,  notwithstand- 
ing he  had  not  yet  completed  an  important  battery.  On 
the  morning  of  the  8th,  when  the  drums  beat  to  arms,  he 


1758.]    BRITISH    DEFEATED    AT    TICONDEEOGA.    153 

placed  himself  just  within  the  trenches.  With  quick  eye 
he  discerned  every  movement,  and  with  ready  skill  directed 
every  maneuver. 

The  British  approached  the  French  lines  in  three  col- 
umns. Ahercrombie  kept  at  a  safe  distance  in  the  rear. 
As  the  army  approached  the  out-works,  the  French,  com- 
pletely hidden  in  their  trenches,  and  well  defended  by  a 
deep  abatis,  (composed  of  felled  trees,  their  tops  lying  out- 
ward from  the  embankments,)  opened  a  sudden  and  inces- 
sant fire  from  swivels  and  small  arms.  The  British  were 
entangled  in  the  projecting  limbs,  logs,  and  rubbish,  yet 
they  pressed  forward  with  the  greatest  intrepidity,  while 
officers  and  men  were  swept  down  as  with  a  mower's  scythe. 
For  four  hours,  in  the  face  of  a  most  destructive  storm  of 
iron  and  lead  did  they  strive  to  cut  their  way,  and  the 
carnage  was  dreadful.  Some  did,  indeed,  mount  the  para- 
pet, and  scores  fell  within  a  few  feet  of  the  trenches. 
Never  was  British  valor  more  strikingly  displayed  than  on 
that  occasion,  and  had  Abercrombie  brought  up  his  artil- 
lery, or  possessed  a  tithe  of  the  activity  and  courage  of 
Montcalm,  he  would  have  secured  a  victory.  But  as  the 
moments  sped  on,  and  he  heard  that  his  brave  regulars  were 
rapidly  diminishing  (for  he  had  remained,  like  a  coward,  at 
the  mills),  he  ordered  a  retreat  to  be  sounded.  The  Bri- 
tish had  then  lost  two  thousand  men,  and  in  the  conflict 
had  become  much  disordered.  The  retreat  became  a  flight, 
and  when  Abercrombie  was  sought  for  to  rally  them  he 
could  nowhere  be  found.  He  had  hurried  back  to  the 
landing  place  on  Lake  George,  in  "  extremest  fright,"  and 
the  army,  in  consternation,  followed.  They  would  have 
rushed  pell  mell  into  the  boats  but  for  the  alertness  and 
influence  of  Colonel  Bradstreet,  who  had  the  command  of 
the  flotilla. 

7* 


154  THILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  25. 

Meanwhile  a  courier  had  been  dispatched  in  a  whale- 
boat,  with  the  following  hurried  letter  from  Abercrombie's 
aide-de-camp  to  Colonel  Cumming,  who  had  been  left  in 
charge  of  a  detachment  at  the  head  of  the  lake  :* 

"French  Advanced  Guard,  July  8,  1758. 
"  Colonel  Cumming  : 

"  You  are  hereby  directed  not  to  send  any  more  provincial  troops 
down  the  lake,  but  stop  them  all  there,  as  likewise  all  the  stores  that 
have  been  ordered  down,  except  as  many  men  as  is  necessary  to  bring 
all  the  empty  batteaus  down  immediately,  which  you  are  to  forward 
without  any  loss  of  time.  All  the  wounded  are  to  be  forwarded  to 
Fort  Edward.  You  will  observe  the  above  orders.  Our  army,  who 
have  behaved  with  the  utmost  intrepidity,  were  obliged  to  give  way  to 
batteries  and  the  strongest  intrenchments.  Forward  the  wounded  to 
New  York  as  soon  as  possible.!  Send  this  note  to  Captain  Read.  For- 
ward the  heavy  artillery  to  New  York  as  soon  as  possible.  Collect  the 
provincial  troops  at  Fort  William  Henry,  as  we  hope  to  advance  again 
soon.  Finish  all  your  stockaded  forts  immediately,  and  particularly  the 
hospital.  Keep  a  good  watch,  and  defend  your  post  to  the  last.  You 
will  soon  have  a  large  body  of  troops  down  at  your  post.  Give  all  the 
assistance  to  the  sick  and  wounded  you  can. 

"  I  am,  dear  Cumming,  your  most  humble  servant, 

u  James  Cunningham,  Aide-de-camp." 

*  Autograph  letter. 

f  Among  the  wounded  was  Captain  Charles  Lee,  afterward  the  second 
major-general  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  then  distinguished  for 
his  recklessness,  bad  manners,  and  worse  morals.  On  the  march  of  the  troops 
from  Albany,  he  commanded  a  small  detachment  that  encamped  at  the  Flats, 
the  residence  of  'Aunt  Schuyler."  He  had  neglected  to  procure  the  custom- 
ary warrants  for  impressing  horses  and  oxen,  and  obtaining  necessary  supplies 
for  the  army.  Without  authority  he  seized  what  he  wanted,  and  did  not 
spare  even  Mrs.  Schuyler,  the  friend  and  benefactor  of  the  army ;  and  when 
remonstrated  with  he  answered  by  coarse  oaths.  Her  domestics  were  en- 
raged, but  she  remained  calm,  and  quieted  their  excitement.  "When  the 
wounded  at  Ticonderoga  were  brought  down,  she  caused  her  great  barn  to 
be  converted  into  a  hospital,  and  a  room  was  furnished  in  her  house  for  the 
use  of  a  surgeon.  Among  the  surgeon's  patients  was  the  rapacious  and  ill- 
mannered  Lee.  Mrs.  Schuyler  treated  him  with  the  utmost  kindness,  and 
never  made  the  least  hint  concerning  his  past  misconduct.  Lee  was  charmed, 
and  "he  swore,"  says  Mrs.  Grant,  "  that  he  was  sure  there  would  be  a  place 
reserved  for  Madame  in  heaven  though  no  other  woman  should  be  there,  and 
that  he  should  wish  for  nothing  better  than  to  share  her  final  destinj." 


1758.]       LORD    HOWE'S    DEATH    LAMENTED.  155 

Two  days  before  this  courier  was  sent,  another  boat  had 
passed  over  the  lake,  but  upon  a  different  errand.  It  con- 
veyed the  body  of  the  young  Lord  Howe,  who  fell,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  the  first  encounter  with  the  French  in  the 
forests  at  -Ticonderoga.  Its  arrival  upon  the  sandy  beach 
at  the  head  of  the  lake  was  the  first  intimation  to  Colonel 
Cumming  and  his  command  of  the  great  loss  the  army  had 
sustained.  None  grieved  more  sincerely  than  Major  Schuy- 
ler, and  he  asked  and  received  permission  to  convey  the 
dead  body  of  his  friend  to  Albany  for  interment.  It  was 
carried  on  a  rude  bier  to  Fort  Edward,  and  thence  to  Al- 
bany in  a  batteau.  Major  Schuyler  caused  it  to  be  en- 
tombed in  his  family  vault,  and  there  it  lay  many  years, 
when  the  remains  were  placed  in  a  leaden  coffin  and  depos- 
ited under  the  chancel  of  St.  Peter's  church,  in  that  city. 
They  rest  there  still.  We  have  observed  that  Lord  Howe, 
as  an  example  for  his  soldiers,  had  cut  his  fine  and  abundant 
hair  very  short.  When  his  remains  were  taken  from  the 
Schuyler  vault  for  reentombment,  his  hair  had  grown  to 
long,  flowing  locks,  and  was  very  beautiful. 

Lord  Howe  was  not  quite  thirty-four  years  of  age  when 
he  died.  "  With  him,"  observes  Mante,  "  the  soul  of  the 
army  seemed  to  expire."*  In  England  intelligence  of  his 
death  caused  a  profound  sensation,  and  there  was  sincere 

*  "  A  few  days  after  Lord  Howe's  departure,  in  the  afternoon,  a  man  was 
seen  coming  on  horseback  from  the  north,  galloping  violently,  without  his 
hat.  Pidrom,  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  the  Colonel's  [Schuyler]  only  sur- 
viving brother,  was  with  Aunt  Schuyler,  and  ran  instantly  to  inquire,  well 
knowing  he  rode  express.  The  man  galloped  on,  crying  out  that  Lord  Howe 
was  killed.  The  mind  of  our  good  aunt  had  been  so  engrossed  by  her  anxi- 
ety for  the  event  impending,  and  so  impressed  by  the  merit  of  her  favorite 
hero,  that  her  wonted  firmness  sunk  under  the  stroke,  and  she  broke  out  into 
bitter  lamentations.  This  had  such  an  effect  on  her  friends  and  domestics 
that  shrieks  and  sobs  of  anguish  echoed  through  every  part  of  the  house."— 
Mrs.  Grant's  Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady. 


156  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  25. 

mourning  throughout  the  colonies.  The  general  court  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  as  a  testimonial  of  their  respect  for  his 
character,  appropriated  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  ster- 
ling for  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  his  memory  in 
Westminster  Abbey.* 

On  the  morning  of  the  9  th,  Abercrombie's  broken  army 
retreated  across  Lake  George  as  rapidly  as  possible,  as  the 
frightened  chief  could  not  feel  safe  until  that  little  sea, 
thirty-eight  miles  in  length,  was  between  himself  and  the 
dreaded  Montcalm.  At  the  head  of  the  lake  a  council  of 
war  was  held.  Colonel  Bradstreet,  burning  with  indigna- 
tion because  of  the  defeat  at  Ticonderoga,  and  hoping 
nothing  from  a  general  who,  while  he  calumniated  his  army 
as  broken-spirited,  exhibited  none  of  the  characteristics  of 
a  good  general,  urged  the  importance  of  attempting  his 
long  cherished  scheme  of  capturing  Fort  Frontenac,  at  the 
foot  of  Lake  Ontario.  He  offered  to  conduct  the  expedi- 
tion himself,  and  by  his  strong  appeals  he  wrung  from  the 
council  a  reluctant  consent.  Abercrombie,  after  some  hesita- 
tion, commissioned  him  to  lead  three  thousand  men  against 
that  fortress,  and  "  he  rather  flew  than  marched  with  them," 
says  a  cotemporary,  "  through  that  long  route  from  Lake 
George  to  Albany,  and  thence  again  up  the  stream  of  the 
Mohawk  river." 

At  Albany  Bradstreet  was  joined  by  Major  Schuyler 
and  his  kinsman  by  marriage,  Dr.  John  Cochran,  who  be- 
came surgeon-general  of  the  northern  department  in  the 
war  for  independence.     At  the  Oneida  carrying-place  he 

*  "Lord  Howe  was  a  grandson  of  George  the  First,  bis  mother  being  the 
natural  daughter  of  that  monarch  and  his  mistress,  Lady  Darlington. ': — 
Grdhame.  His  father  was  Sir  E.  Scrope,  second  Viscount  Howe,  in  Ireland. 
His  brothers,  Richard  and  "William,  were  British  commanders  in  America  dur- 
ing the  earlier  years  of  the  war  for  independence.  The  former  succeeded  to 
his  brother's  title. 


1758.]    EXPEDITION     AGAINST    FRONTENAC.       157 

found  General  Stanwix,  who  was  about  to  commence  the 
erection  of  a  fort  where  the  village  of  Rome  now  stands. 
That  officer  placed  under  Bradstreet' s  command  an  addi- 
tional force  of  twenty-seven  hundred  men,  eleven  hundred 
of  them  New  Yorkers.  He  was  also  joined  there  by  forty 
warriors  under  Red  Head,  a  renowned  war-chief  of  the 
Onondagas.  With  this  strong  force,  eight  pieces  of  can- 
non, and  three  mortars,  Bradstreet  pushed  forward  to  Os- 
wego, by  way  of  Wood  Creek,  Oneida  Lake,  and  the 
Onondago  or  Oswego  river. 

Major  Schuyler,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Cochran,  a  corps 
of  provincial  soldiers,  and  a  large  number  of  carpenters 
and  other  artificers,  had  made  much  quicker  marches  than 
the  main  body  of  Bradstreet' s  army,  and  arrived  at  Oswego 
several  days  in  advance  of  them.  That  place  presented  a 
picture  of  utter  desolation.  There  was  scarcely  a  vestige 
of  the  forts  to  be  seen,  and  no  memorial  of  the  French  oc- 
cupancy remained  but  a  huge  rude,  cross.  Schuyler  imme- 
diately commenced  the  construction  of  a  rude  but  strong 
schooner,  to  bear  the  cannon  and  howitzers,  the  powder 
and  balls  of  the  expedition  over  Lake  Ontario,  light  whale- 
boats  only  having  been  transported  from  Albany  by  the 
army  for  their  use.  This  schooner,  incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  was  completed  within  three  weeks  after  the  keel  was 
laid.  It  was  named  The  Mohawk,  and  did  good  service  in 
carrying  the  heavy  ordnance  to  Frontenac. 

Bradstreet  and  his  army  embarked  in  open  boats  upon 
Lake  Ontario,  and  creeping  along  the  southeastern  shores, 
landed  within  a  mile  of  Fort  Frontenac  on  the  evening  of 
the  25th  of  August.  M.  de  Noyan,  the  commander  of  the 
fort,  was  taken  completely  by  surprise.  The  fortification 
was  a  quadrangle,  strongly  built,  and  mounted  with  sixty 
pieces  of  cannon.     But  the  garrison  was  small,  and  a  feel- 


158  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  25. 

ing  of  absolute  security  caused  them  to  be  ill  prepared  for 
defense.  Couriers  were  immediately  sent  by  Noyan  to  M. 
de  Vaudreuil,  at  Montreal,  for  aid.  That  officer  caused 
the  generate  to  be  beaten,  and  without  regard  to  the  har- 
vest then  ready  for  the  reapers,  he  levied  fifteen  hundred 
men — soldiers,  farmers,  and  Indians — and  sent  them  toward 
Frontenac  under  Fabert,  the  major  of  the  town.  But 
succor  was  not  timely.  At  the  close  of  the  second  day 
Bradstreet  opened  batteries  at  so  short  a  distance  from  the 
fort  that  almost  every  shot  took  effect.  The  Indian  aux- 
iliaries of  the  French  soon  fled  in  dismay,  and  on  the  eve- 
ning of  the  27th  Noyan  was  compelled  to  surrender  the 
fort  and  all  its  dependencies.  Bradstreet  allowed  the  chap- 
lain of  the  garrison  to  carry  away  all  the  sacred  vessels 
belonging  to  the  chapel ;  and  Noyan,  who  was  permitted  to 
go  to  Montreal,  agreed  to  effect  an  exchange  of  himself  for 
Colonel  Peter  Schuyler,  of  New  Jersey,  who  had  been  made 
a  prisoner  at  Oswego  the  year  before,  released  on  parole, 
but  afterward  reclaimed. 

There  were  only  about  one  hundred  men  in  the  fort, 
who  became  prisoners  of  war  ;  but  the  captors  found  there 
forty  six  pieces  of  cannon,  sixteen  small  mortars,  together 
with  a  prodigious  collection  of  military  stores,  provisions, 
and  merchandise,  intended  chiefly  for  Fort  Du  Quesne  and 
the  interior  dependencies.  Nine  armed  vessels,  carrying 
from  eight  to  eighteen  guns  each,  also  fell  into  their  hands. 
After  destroying  the  fort  and  seven  of  the  vessels,  and  such 
stores  as  he  could  not  carry  away,  Bradstreet  loaded  the 
two  remaining  vessels  with  spoils,  and  with  his  whole  army 
returned  to  Oswego.  Major  Schuyler  had  remained  there, 
and  joined  the  victorious  colonel  in  his  march  back  to  the 
Oneida  carrying  place.  There  Bradstreet  found  General 
Stanwix  engaged  in  building  a  fort,  which  he  had  com- 


1758.]  CAPTURE     OF     FRONTENAC.  159 

menced  on  the  23d  of  August,  for  the  security  of  the  In- 
dian country.  He  lent  his  aid  to  that  officer  for  a  time, 
and  then  returned  with  his  main  army  to  Lake  George,  after 
losing  five  hundred  men  in  the  wilderness  by  sickness. 

The  capture  of  Frontenac  was  a  most  important  event 
in  the  histoiy  of  the  war,  and  should  have  secured  for 
Bradstreet  greater  honors  than  he  ever  received.  It  facili- 
tated the  fall  of  Du  Quesne  in  the  west,  discouraged  the 
French,  and  gave  great  joy  and  confidence  to  the  English. 
The  resources  of  Canada  were  almost  exhausted,  and  there 
was  a  cry  for  peace,  "  no  matter  with  what  boundaries." 
"  I  am  not  discouraged,"  wrote  Montcalm,  in  evident  dis- 
appointment, "  nor  are  my  troops.  We  are  resolved  to  find 
our  graves  under  the  ruins  of  the  colony." 

The  sagacious  mind  of  Pitt  comprehended  the  value  of 
this  conquest.  He  "appeared  accurately  informed  of  the 
inland  geography  of  America,"  says  Smith,  the  historian, 
whose  letter  to  Governor  Morris,  in  England,  bore  the  first 
intelligence  of  the  event  to  the  British  cabinet.  Pitt  per- 
ceived that  Bradstreet  had  secured  the  dominion  of  Lake 
Ontario,  and  an  easy  way  to  the  possession  of  Niagara  and 
the  country  beyond,  and  he  looked  with  confidence  to  the 
operations  then  in  progress  toward  Fort  Du  Quesne. 

Nor  was  that  confidence  disappointed.  The  command 
of  the  expedition  was  entrusted  to  General  Joseph  Forbes, 
and  in  July  he  had  about  nine  thousand  men  at  his  dis- 
posal, including  the  Virginia  troops,  under  Colonel  Wash- 
ington, at  Fort  Cumberland.  Forbes  was  taken  ill  at  Phil- 
adelphia, and  this  circumstance,  and  his  perversity  of  will 
and  judgment,  caused  most  disastrous  delays  in  the  progress 
of  the  expedition.  Contrary  to  the  advice  of  Washington 
and  other  provincial  officers,  Forbes  insisted  upon  the  con- 
struction of  a  new  road  over  the  mountains,  instead  of 


160  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  25. 

following  the  one  made  by  Braddock  three  years  before. 
So  slow  were  his  movements  that  in  September,  when  it 
was  known  that  not  more  than  eight  hundred  men  were  in 
garrison  at  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  its  conquest  might  be 
easily  accomplished,  Forbes,  with  six  thousand  troops,  was 
yet  eastward  of  the  Alleghanies.  Major  Grant,  of  the 
British  army,  a  brave  but  injudicious  officer,  had  been  de- 
tached with  eight  hundred  of  Colonel  Bouquet's  advanced 
corps,  part  regulars  and  part  provincials,  to  reconnoiter  the 
condition  of  Du  Quesne  and  the  surrounding  country. 
With  foolish  recklessness  he  displayed  his  force  near  the  fort, 
and  invited  an  attack.  It  was  accepted,  and  before  he  was 
aware  of  his  danger  he  was  surrounded  by  a  large  force  of 
French  and  Indians,  and  furiously  assailed.  Three  hundred 
of  Grant's  men  were  slain  or  wounded,  and  himself  and  nine- 
teen officers  were  made  prisoners  and  carried  to  Canada. 

This  was  on  the  21st  of  September.  Forbes  still  moved 
on  slowly  and  methodically,  and  when  the  main  army 
joined  Bouquet's  advance,  on  the  8th  of  November,  they 
were  yet  fifty  miles  from  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Winter  was 
approaching,  the  troops  were  discontented,  and  at  a  council 
of  war  it  was  resolved  to  abandon  the  enterprise  and  return. 
At  that  moment  three  prisoners  were  brought 'to  head- 
quarters, who  assured  the  general  that  the  French  garrison 
at  Du  Quesne  was  extremely  weak  and  illy  supplied,  for 
they  had  relied  upon  the  provisions  and  stores  which  Brad- 
street  had  captured  at  Frontenac.  Washington  was  im- 
mediately sent  forward  with  his  Virginians,  and  the  whole 
army  made  preparations  to  follow.  When  the  advance 
were  within  a  day's  march  of  the  fort,  Indian  scouts,  dis- 
covered them,  and  their  fears,  magnifying  the  numbers  of 
the  Virginians,  caused  them  to  tell  a  most  alarming  tale  to 
the  commander  at  Du  Quesne.     The  garrison  was  then  re- 


1758.]  CLOSE     OF     THE     CAMPAIGN.  16  L 

duced  to  five  hundred  men,  and  was  short  of  provisions. 
They  were  seized  with  panic,  and  on  the  24th  of  Novem- 
ber they  set  fire  to  the  fort  and  fled  down  the  Ohio  in  open 
boats,  leaving  everything  behind  them.  Washington  and 
his  Virginians  took  possession  of  all  that  was  left,  on  the 
following  day,  and  raised  the  flag  of  England  over  the 
smoking  ruins.  A  detachment  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
men  were  left  to  repair  and  garrison  the  fort,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  the  army  hastened  back  to  winter  quarters. 
The  name  of  the  post  was  changed  to  Fort  Pitt,  in  honor 
of  the  great  statesman  at  the  head  of  public  affairs  ;  and 
around  its  site  is  now  spread  out  the  manufacturing  city  of 
Pittsburg,  with  full  sixty  thousand  inhabitants. 

With  the  close  of  this  expedition  ended  the  campaign 
of  1758.  On  the  whole  it  had  resulted  favorably  to  Great 
Britain  ;  sufficiently  so  to  encourage  Pitt  in  making  vast 
preparations  for  the  campaign  of  another  year.  French 
pride  had  been  effectually  humbled  by  the  loss  of  three  of 
their  most  important  posts — Louisburg,  Frontenac,  and 
Du  Quesne — and  the  weakening  of  the  attachment  of  their 
Indian  allies.  Many  of  the  savage  warriors  had  openly 
deserted  the  French  ;  and  at  a  great  council  held  at  Easton, 
on  the  Delaware,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  summer  of  1758, 
six  tribes  had,  with  the  Six  Nations,  made  treaties  of 
friendship  or  neutrality  with  the  English. 


CHAPTER    X. 

The  final  struggle  for  the  mastery  in  the  New  World, 
"between  the  English  and  the  French,  was  now  at  hand. 
Four  years  had  elapsed  since  the  commencement  of  the 
contest,  but  only  during  the  last  campaign  had  success  en- 
couraged the  English.  Now  the  future  for  the  colonists 
appeared  bright,  and  the  pride  and  ambition  of  England 
were  powerfully  excited.  Pitt,  with  wonderful  sagacity, 
surveyed  the  whole  scene  of  possible  conflict,  and  calcu- 
lated the  chances  of  future  success.  He  conceived  the 
magnificent  scheme  of  conquering  all  Canada,  and  destroy- 
ing, at  one  blow,  the  French  dominion  in  America.  That 
dominion  was  now  confined  to  the  region  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, for  the  more  distant  settlements  of  the  west  and 
south  were  in  the  condition  of  weak  colonists  cut  off  from 
the  parent  country. 

Pitt  had  the  rare  fortune  to  possess  the  confidence  of 
Parliament  and  of  the  colonists,  and  nothing  that  he  de- 
sired was  withheld.  The  former  was  dazzled  by  his  great- 
ness, the  latter  were  deeply  impressed  with  his  justice.  He 
had  promptly  reimbursed  all  the  expenses  incurred  by  the 
provincial  assemblies  during  the  campaign  recently  closed, 
amounting  to  at  least  a  million  of  dollars  ;  and  they  as 
promptly  seconded  his  scheme  of  conquest,  which  had  been 
communicated  to  them  under  an  oath  of  secresy.  With 
great  unanimity  Parliament  voted  for  the  year  sixty  mil- 


1759.]  THE     FINAL     STRUGGLE.  163 

lions  of  dollars,  and  such  forces,  by  land  and  sea,  as  had 
never  before  been  known  in  England.  "  This  is  Pitt's 
doing,"  exclaimed  Lord  Chesterfield,  "  and  it  is  marvelous 
in  our  eyes." 

The  inefficient  Abercrombie,  who  had  wasted  the  whole 
autumn  at  Lake  George  in  criminal  supineness,  was  de- 
prived of  his  command,  and  General  Jeffrey  Amherst,  who, 
with  Wolfe,  had  earned  laurels  on  the  eastern  shores,  was 
made  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  British  forces  in  Amer- 
ica, and  sinecure  governor  of  Virginia.  The  general  oper- 
ations were  to  be  conducted  at  separate  points.  A  strong 
land  and  naval  force,  under  General  Wolfe,  was  to  ascend 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  attack  Quebec.  Another  force,  under 
Amherst,  was  to  drive  the  French  from  Lake  Champlain, 
seize  Montreal,  and  join  Wolfe  at  Quebec  ;  while  a  third 
expedition,  commanded  by  General  Prideaux,  was  to  at- 
tempt the  capture  of  Fort  Niagara,  and  then  hasten  down 
Lake  Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Montreal.  A  con- 
siderable fleet,  under  Admiral  Saunders,  was  deputed  to 
carry  Wolfe  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  to  cooperate  with 
him  in  the  attack  on  Quebec. 

The  French  in  America,  who  were  to  oppose  these  for- 
midable preparations  for  the  conquest  of  their  remaining 
territory,  were  comparatively  few  in  number  and  weak  in 
supplies.  Montcalm  was  the  military  commander,  but  in 
all  Canada  he  could  not  muster  seven  thousand  men  into 
the  service,  and  only  a  comparatively  few  Indians.  Scarcity 
of  food  prevailed  throughout  all  the  French  domain  in 
America,  for  the  able-bodied  men  had  been  called  from 
their  fields  to  the  camp ;  and  on  account  of  arrearages  of 
pay  and  a  profusion  of  paper  money,  the  French  soldiers 
were  becoming  very  discontented.  "  Without  unexpected 
good  fortune  or  great  fault  in  the  enemy,"  Montcalm  wrote 


1G4  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  26. 

to  the  minister,  "  Canada  must  be  taken  this  campaign,  or 
certainly  the  next." 

Amherst,  on  hearing  of  the  disasters  at  Ticonderoga  in 
the  summer  of  1758,  had  hastened  to  Boston  from  Louis- 
burg,  and  then  across  the  country,  with  four  regiments  and 
battalion,  to  reinforce  the  defeated  general.  He  arrived 
at  Lake  George  early  in  October,  too  late  for  further  action 
in  the  field  that  season.  He  returned  to  New  York,  and  in 
November  received  his  commission  as  commander-in-chief. 
He  immediately  set  about  arrangements  for  the  next  cam- 
paign. When  these  were  completed,  he  transferred  his 
headquarters  to  Albany,  appointed  Colonel  Bradstreet 
quartermaster  general  of  the  army  under  his  immediate 
command,  and  then  collected  his  forces.  They  were  assem- 
bled at  the  close  of  May,  twelve  thousand  strong,  chiefly 
provincials,  furnished  by  New  York  and  New  England. 

The  assembly  of  New  York  entered  into  the  scheme  of 
conquest  with  zeal.  They  voted  two  thousand  six  hundred 
men  for  the  service,  and  authorized  the  emission  of  half  a 
million  of  dollars  in  bills  of  credit.  Again,  early  in  July, 
the  assembly,  at  the  request  of  General  Amherst,  agreed  to 
loan  the  crown  a  large  sum,  to  be  reimbursed  in  the  course 
of  the  year. 

Notwithstanding  Amherst  used  the  greatest  exertions 
to  enter  the  field  early,  it  was  July  before  his  army  moved 
northward,  and  it  was  not  until  the  22d  of  that  month  that 
it  appeared  at  Ticonderoga.  Meanwhile  the  object  of  the 
expedition  against  Niagara,  under  Prideaux,  had  been  al- 
most accomplished.  Prideaux  was  accompanied  by  Sir 
William  Johnson  and  a  few  Mohawk  Indians.  His  forces, 
who  were  chiefly  provincials,  were  collected  at  Oswego. 
From  that  point  he  sailed  for  Niagara,  and  landed  a 
short  distance  from  the  fort,  without  opposition,  on  the 


1159.]  FORT     NIAGARA     TAKEN.  165 

17th.  Prideaux  immediately  commenced  the  siege,  and 
was  killed  on  the  same  day  by  the  bursting  of  one  of  his 
own  guns.  The  command  then  devolved  upon  General 
Johnson,  and  he  sent  a  flag  demanding  the  surrender  of  the 
fort.  The  garrison,  in  hourly  expectation  of  reinforce- 
ments, refused,  and  held  out  bravely  for  several  days.  On 
the  24th,  about  fifteen  hundred  French  regulars,  and  as 
many  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians,  appeared,  and  were 
greeted  by  the  garrison  with  a  shout  of  welcome.  Their 
joy  lasted  but  for  a  moment.  Johnson's  troops  and  the 
French  reinforcement  had  a  severe  engagement.  The  lat- 
ter were  effectually  routed,  and  on  the  following  clay,  the 
25th  of  July,  Fort  Niagara  and  its  dependencies,  and  the 
garrison  of  seven  hundred  men,  were  surrendered  to  John- 
son. A  fortnight  afterward  Lieutenant  Governor  De  Lan- 
cey  wrote  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  saying,  "  His  Majesty  is 
now  in  possession  of  the  most  important  pass  in  all  the 
Indian  countries."  It  was  even  so.  Fort  Niagara  was  the 
connecting  link  of  French  military  posts  between  Canada 
and  Louisiana.  It  was  effectually  broken,  never  to  be  re- 
united. 

Johnson  garrisoned  Fort  Niagara  and  returned  to  Al- 
bany, for  his  prisoners  encumbered  him,  and  he  could  not 
procure  sufficient  vessels  to  carry  himself  and  troops  to 
Montreal  to  cooperate  with  Wolfe  and  Amherst,  according 
to  the  plan  of  the  campaign. 

Amherst  took  the  route  by  Lake  George,  over  which 
Abercrombie  passed  the  year  before.  He  was  accompanied 
by  Colonel  Bradstreet,  Colonel  Schuyler,  of  New  Jersey, 
who  had  been  exchanged,  and  Brigadier  General  Gage. 
Among  other  officers  were  some  who  became  distinguished 
as  the  friends  or  foes  of  freedom  in  the  war  for  American 
independence  in  after  years.   Of  these,  the  most  noted  were 


166  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  26.. 

Balfour,  who  commanded  British  troops  at  Charleston  ; 
Loring,  father  of  the  British  commissioner  of  prisoners  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  ;  Moncrieffe,  who  was  a  major 
in  the  royal  army  ;  Prescott,  the  petty  tyrant,  who  held 
Ethan  Allen  a  prisoner  in  1775,  and  ruled  with  a  rod  of 
iron  while  commanding  in  Rhode  Island  two  years  later  ; 
Putnam,  a  major  general  in  the  Continental  army  ;  Skene, 
who  was  made  a  prisoner  with  Burgoyne  ;  Stark,  the  hero 
of  Bennington  ;  Waterbury,  who  performed  brave  exploits 
on  Lake  Champlain,  and  Wooster,  the  patriot-martyr,  who 
was  killed  near  Danbury. 

Major  Schuyler  remained  at  Albany,  actively  engaged 
in  the  duties  of  forwarding  supplies  for  the  army.  So  great 
was  his  ability  in  canying  on  his  plans,  public  and  private, 
that  he  was  now  invested  with  the  functions  of  commissary 
general.  He  was  still  an  easy,  good-natured  young  man, 
and  no  one  would  have  suspected  that  under  that  exterior 
lay  qualities  hitherto  unsuspected,  even  by  himself,  that 
were  to  exalt  him  to  the  position  of  one  of  the  most  hon- 
ored patriots  of  the  world.  They  existed,  nevertheless,  and 
when  occasion  called  for  their  exercise  they  promptly  ap- 
peared. In  business  he  was  always  firm  and  discreet.  No 
one  ever  saw  him  hurried,  embarrassed,  or  agitated  ;  and  he 
conducted  the  affairs  of  his  department  at  this  time  with 
the  greatest  prudence,  judgment,  and  dispatch. 

General  Amherst  appeared  before  Ticonderoga  on  the 
22d  of  July.  The  French,  unable  to  cope  with  their  ene- 
mies, had  resolved  to  confine  their  operations  to  the  service 
of  delaying  the  invading  armies.  In  consequence  of  the 
withdrawal  of  troops  to  assist  in  the  defense  of  menaced 
Quebec,  the  garrison  at  Ticonderoga  at  this  time  was  very 
feeble. 

On  the  morning  of  the  23d,  the  French  army,  under 


1759.]        ENGLISH     ON     LAKE     CHAM  PLAIN.  167 

Bourlamarque,  withdrew  from  their  lines  into  the  fort,  and 
three  days  afterward  abandoned  and  partially  demolished 
it,  and  fled  to  Crown  Point.  General  Amherst  immediately 
took  possession  of  Fort  Carillon,  ordered  the  works  to  be 
repaired,  and  placed  a  strong  garrison  there.  While  en- 
gaged in  these  repairs,  he  received  information  that  the 
French  had  also,  in  dismay,  abandoned  Crown  Point,  and 
fled  down  the  lake  in  their  boats.  This  evacuation  occurred 
on  the  first  of  August.  Amherst  immediately  detached  a 
body  of  troops  to  occupy  the  abandoned  post,  and  on  the 
4th  proceeded  to  its  occupation  with  his  whole  army. 

The  French  fled  to  Isle  aux  Noix,  at  the  foot  of  the 
lake.  Amherst  was  about  to  follow  with  a  detachment  of 
his  army,  when  he  was  informed  that  the  French  were  over 
three  thousand  strong,  and  that  the  lake  was  guarded  by 
four  vessels,  mounted  with  cannon  and  manned  by  numer- 
ous pickets,  under  the  command  of  M.  le  Bras,  a  skilful 
officer  of  the  French  navy.  Amherst  immediately  gave 
orders  for  the  construction  of  several  vessels  of  war,  which 
he  placed  in  charge  of  Captain  Loring.  When  these  were 
equipped,  he  embarked  with  his  whole  army,  chiefly  in 
batteaux,  near  the  middle  of  October,  resolved  to  drive  the 
enemy  beyond  the  St.  Lawrence.  Heavy  tempests  arose 
upon  the  lake,  and  he  was  compelled  to  turn  back.  He  aban- 
doned the  enterprise,  landed  at  Crown  Point,  put  his  army 
into  winter  quarters  there,  and  proceeded  to  erect  that 
strong  and  costly  fort  whose  picturesque  ruins  may  yet  be 
seen  by  voyagers  upon  Lake  Champlain.  Captain  Loring, 
however,  braved  the  storm  with  his  little  fleet,  went  down 
the  lake,  destroyed  the  French  flotilla,  and  thus  gained  the 
complete  command  of  Champlain. 

A  more  successful  expedition  was  in  progress  in  the 
meantime.     As  soon  as  the  ice  of  the  St.  Lawrence  came 


168  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  26. 

floating  into  the  Gulf  in  the  spring  of  1759,  Admiral 
Saunders  prepared  to  sail  from  Louisburg  to  Quebec  with 
the  British  army  under  Wolfe.  The  entire  armament  con- 
sisted of  eight  thousand  men  in  transports,  under  a  convoy 
of  twenty  line-of-battle  ships,  and  as  many  frigates  and 
smaller  armed  vessels.  Admiral  Holmes  was  Saunders' 
lieutenant ;  and  in  the  army  and  navy  engaged  in  this  ex- 
pedition were  several  officers  who  were  conspicuous  in  the 
war  for  American  independence,  in  the  royal  service. 

The  whole  force  was  under  the  command  of  Wolfe.  It 
arrived  off  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  just  below  Quebec,  on  the 
26th  of  June,  and  on  the  following  day  landed  there.  Que- 
bec then,  as  now,  consisted  of  an  upper  and  lower  town,  the 
former  within  fortified  walls  on  the  top  and  declivities  of  a 
high  rocky  promontory  ;  the  latter  lay  upon  a  narrow  beach 
at  the  water's  edge,  and  was  slowly  creeping  up  the  St. 
Charles  river.  Upon  the  heights  of  the  promontory,  three 
hundred  feet  above  the  water,  was  a  level  plateau  called  the 
Plains  of  Abraham.  The  town  was  strongly  garrisoned, 
and  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Charles,  where  it  enters  the 
St.  Lawrence,  at  the  base  of  the  promontory,  the  French 
had  moored  several  armed  vessels  and  floating  batteries. 
Along  the  north  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  the  St. 
Charles  to  the  Montmorenci  river,  a  distance  of  seven  miles, 
lay  the  French  army  under  Montcalm,  in  a  fortified  camp. 
This  army  was  composed  chiefly  of  French  Canadians  and 
Indians.  The  former  had  been  pressed  into  the  service, 
and  all  agricultural  operations  devolved  upon  old  men,  wo- 
men, and  children.  Montcalm  trusted  more  to  the  natural 
strength  of  the  position  in  which  his  camp  and  the  city  lay, 
than  in  his  troops  for  the  successful  defense  of  the  pro- 
vince. 

Wolfe,  with  amazing  skill  and  vigor,  prepared  for  a 


1758.]  QUEBEC     THREATENED.  169 

siege.  On  his  left  lay  his  fleet  at  anchor,  and  over  the 
beautiful  island  stretched  the  tents  of  his  army.  All  went 
on  quietly  until  the  following  night,  which  was  dark  and 
tempestuous,  when  a  fleet  of  fire-ships,  hurried  forward  by 
a  furious  storm  of  wind  and  the  ebbing  tide,  came  blazing 
in  wrath  upon  the  English  ships.  The  sailors  of  the  fleet, 
with  great  adroitness,  grappled  each  incendiary  vessel  as  it 
came,  and  towed  it  free  from  the  shipping.  No  harm  was 
done  by  the  fire. 

On  the  30th  the  English,  after  some  skirmishing,  took 
possession  of  Point  Levi,  opposite  Quebec,  and  proceeded 
to  plant  batteries  there.  These  were  within  a  mile  of  the 
city.  From  them  red  hot  shot  and  blazing  bombshells  were 
sent  upon  the  lower  town.  These  set  on  fire  full  fifty 
houses  in  one  night,  and  almost  destroyed  that  part  of  the 
city.  The  citadel,  higher  up  and  strong,  was  beyond  the 
injurious  effects  of  this  severe  cannonade  and  bombard- 
ment. 

Wolfe  was  eager  to  gain  the  prize  he  so  much  coveted, 
and  he  resolved  to  attack  Montcalm  in  his  fortified  camp. 
On  the  10th  of  July  he  had  landed  a  large  force,  under 
Generals  Townshend  and  Murray,  below  the  Montmorenci, 
and  formed  a  camp  there.  On  the  last  day  of  the  month, 
General  Monckton,  with  grenadiers  and  other  troops,  crossed 
from  Point  Levi,  and  landed  upon  the  beach  above  Mont- 
morenci, at  the  foot  of  the  great  cataract,  where  the  water, 
after  passing  for  a  mile  over  a  rocky  bed  in  a  series  of  roar- 
ing rapids,  leaps  into  a  dark  chasm  two  hundred  feet 
below. 

Murray  and  Townshend  were  ordered  to  force  a  passage 
across  the  Montmorenci  above  the  falls,  and  cooperate  with 
Monckton.     The  latter  was  too  eager  for  attack  to  await 

their  coming.     He  rushed  up  the  steep  bank,  but  was  soon 

b 


170  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  26. 

repulsed,  and  was  compelled  to  take  shelter  behind  a  block- 
house on  the  beach  just  as  a  heavy  thunder  storm,  which 
had  been  gathering  for  several  hours,  burst  upon  the  com- 
batants. Darkness  fell  before  the  storm  ceased,  when  its 
voices  were  rivalled  by  the  roar  of  the  rising  tide,  which 
warned  Monckton  and  his  men  to  take  to  their  boats. 
More  than  four  hundred  of  the  English  had  perished  before 
this  hasty  embarkation.  In  general  orders  the  next  day, 
Wolfe,  while  he  uttered  severe  censure  for  rashness,  praised 
Monckton's  regiment  as  one  able  to  cope  with  the  whole 
Canadian  army. 

Several  weeks  had  now  passed  since  the  English  landed 
upon  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  and  yet  nothing  of  importance 
had  been  accomplished.  Wolfe  was  becoming  very  impa- 
tient. Day  after  day  he  expected  Amherst  with  reinforce- 
ments. They  came  not.  He  could  not  even  hear  from 
Amherst.  He  was  informed  of  the  fall  of  Niagara,  the 
flight  of  the  French  from  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point, 
but  still  no  aid  came  for  him.  Every  hour  difficulties  more 
and  more  appalling  were  gathering  around  Wolfe.  At 
length,  early  in  September,  exposure,  fatigue,  and  anxiety 
had  wasted  his  strength  and  produced  a  violent  fever. 
Prostrate  in  his  tent  he  called  a  council  of  war,  and  while 
his  brow  and  hand  were  hot  with  disease,  he  laid  before  his 
officers  three  desperate  plans  of  attack  upon  the  vigilant 
enemy.  They  dissented  from  all,  and  at  the  suggestion  of 
Townshend  it  was  resolved  to  scale  the  heights  of  Abra- 
ham and  draw  the  French  out  into  open  battle.  Wolfe 
acquiesced,  though  with  faint  hopes  of  success.  A  plan  was 
speedily  matured,  and,  feeble  as  he  was,  the  commander- 
in-chief  resolved  to  lead  the  assault  in  person.  He  consid- 
ered the  enterprise  a  most  hazardous  one,  and  he  wrote  to 
Pitt,  saying,  "  In  this  situation  there  is  such  a  choice  of 


1759.]  THE     FRENCH     DECEIVED.  171 

difficulties  that  I  am  at  a  loss  myself  how  to  determine. 
The  affairs  of  Great  Britain  require  most  vigorous  mea- 
sures, but  then  the  courage  of  a  handful  of  brave  men 
should  be  exerted  only  where  there  is  some  hope."  These 
words  gave  England  unpleasant  emotions. 

On  the  8th  of  September  the  camp  at  the  Montmorenci 
was  broken  up,  and  the  attention  of  Montcalm  was  diverted 
from  the  real  designs  of  the  English  by  seeming  prepara- 
tions to  attack  his  lines.  Already,  having  secured  the  posts 
on  Orleans,  Wolfe  had  marched  the  portion  of  the  army  at 
Point  Levi,  up  the  river,  and  embarked  them  on  transports 
which  had  passed  the  town  in  the  night  for  that  purpose. 
Bougainville,  who  had  been  sent  by  Montcalm  to  watch  the 
movements  of  the  English  and  prevent  a  landing,  was  com- 
pletely deceived;  and  when,  in  several  vessels  of  the  fleet,  the 
whole  army  appeared  to  be  retreating  up  the  river,  there 
was  great  joy  in  Quebec  and  in  the  French  camp.  De 
Levi  was  sent  with  three  thousand  men  to  defend  Mon- 
treal, and  the  Canadians  felt  confident  that  the  lateness  of 
the  season  would  compel  the  British  fleet  to  leave  the  river 
soon. 

It  was  the  pleasant  evening  of  the  12th  of  September 
when  the  whole  army  destined  for  the  assault  moved  sev- 
eral miles  up  the  river,  above  the  intended  landing  place. 
Leaving  their  ships  at  midnight,  they  embarked  in  flat- 
boats,  and  with  muffled  but  unused  oars,  moved  silently 
down  at  the  speed  of  the  current,  followed  by  the  ships 
soon  afterward.  Black  clouds  were  then  gathering  in  the 
sky,  and  before  the  flotilla  reached  its  destination  the  night 
was  intensely  dark. 

Wolfe  was  in  good  spirits,  and  yet  there  was  evidently 
in  his  mind  a  presentiment  of  his  speedy  death.  At  his 
evening  mess,  before  leaving  the  vessel,  he  composed  and 


172  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  26. 

sang  impromptu  that  little  campaigning  song,  which  has 
been  chanted  in  many  a  British  tent  since,  commencing — 

"Why,  soldiers,  why- 
Should  we  be  melancholy,  boys  ? 

Why,  soldiers,  why, 
Whose  business  'tis  to  die!" 

And  as  he  sat  among  his  officers,  and  floated  softly  down 
the  river  in  the  gloom,  a  shadow  seemed  to  rest  upon  his 
heart,  and  he  repeated  in  low,  musing  tones,  that  touching 
stanza  of  Gray's  Elegy  in  a  Country  Churchyard — 

"  The  boast  of*  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power, 

And  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  e'er  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour — 

The  path  of  glory  leads  but  to  the  grave." 

At  the  close  he  whispered  "  Now,  gentlemen,  I  would 
prefer  being  the  author  of  that  poem  to  the  glory  of  beat- 
ing the  French  to-morrow." 

At  dawn,  on  the  13th  of  September,  almost  five  thou- 
sand British  troops  were  drawn  up  in  battle  array  on  the 
Plains  of  Abraham,  three  hundred  feet  above  the  St.  Law- 
rence. They  had  landed  cautiously  in  a  cove,  which  still 
bears  the  name  of  Wolfe,  and  were  led  up  a  ravine  and 
steep  acclivity  by  the  commander-in-chief,  who  was  at  the 
head  of  the  main  division,  followed  by  Colonel  Howe  with 
light  infantry  and  a  corps  of  gallant  Highlanders.  This 
was  a  strange  apparition  to  the  French.  The  sergeant's 
guard  at  the  brow  of  the  acclivity  were  instantly  dispersed, 
and  in  hot  haste  communicated  the  startling  intelligence, 
first  to  the  garrison  in  Quebec,  and  then  to  Montcalm,  at 
Beauport.  That  commander  was  incredulous.  "It  can 
be  but  a  small  party  come  to  burn  a  few  houses  and  re- 
turn," he  said  ;  yet,  ever  vigilant,  he  did  not  wait  for  con- 
firmation.    He  was  speedily  undeceived.     He  soon  saw  the 


1759]  DEATH     OF     WOLFE.  173 

imminent  danger  to  which  the  town  and  garrison  were  ex- 
posed, and  he  immediately  abandoned  his  intrenchments 
and  led  the  greater  part  of  his  army  across  the  St.  Charles 
to  confront  the  invaders.  Messengers  were  dispatched  to 
to  call  back  De  Bougainville  and  De  Levi,  and  at  ten  o'clock 
Montcalm  had  his  army  in  battle  order  on  the  higher  part 
of  the  plains  of  Abraham,  near  the  town. 

Both  parties  were  deficient  in  heavy  guns.  The  French 
had  three  field  pieces,  the  English  only  one,  and  that  was 
a  light  six-pounder  which  some  sailors  had  dragged  up  the 
ravine.  The  two  commanders,  in  the  order  of  battle,  faced 
each  other.  Wolfe  was  on  the  right,  at  the  head  of  the 
grenadiers  who  were  repulsed  at  the  Montmorenci.  They 
burned  with  a  desire  to  wipe  out  the  stain  of  that  event. 
Montcalm  was  on  the  left,  at  the  head  of  three  of  his  best 
regiments.  Wolfe  ordered  his  men  to  put  two  bullets  into 
each  of  their  muskets,  and  reserve  their  fire  until  the  ene- 
my should  be  within  forty  yards  of  them.  They  obeyed. 
Their  double-shotted  guns  did  terrible  execution.  The 
French  were  thrown  into  utter  confusion,  and  were  then 
attacked  by  the  terrible  English  bayonet. 

Wolfe  was  urging  on  his  battalions  in  this  bayonet 
charge  when  he  was  slightly  wounded.  He  staunched  the 
blood  with  a  handkerchief,  and  whilst  cheering  on  his  men 
received  a  more  severe  bullet  wound  in  the  groin.  A  few 
minutes  afterward  a  third  bullet  struck  him  in  the  breast, 
and  he  fell  mortally  wounded.  It  was  at  this  moment  that 
victory  for  the  English  was  secured  by  the  confused  rout  of 
the  French.  As  Wolfe  was  being  carried  to  the  rear,  an  offi- 
cer on  whose  shoulder  he  was  leaning  exclaimed,  "  They 
run  !  they  run  I"  The  dim  eyes  of  the  expiring  hero 
lighted  up,  and  he  asked  "  Who  runs  ?"  "  The  enemy, 
sir  ;  they  give  way  everywhere/'  said  the  officer.     Wolfe 


174  PHILIP     SCHUYLER. 


[JEt.  26, 


gave  an  important  command  for  a  movement  to  cut  off  the 
fugitives,  and  then  feebly  exclaimed,  "  Now,  God  be  praised, 
I  die  happy  !"  These  were  his  last  words.  He  soon  after- 
ward expired. 

Montcalm  was  also  mortally  wounded.  "  Death  is  cer- 
tain/' said  his  surgeon.  "  I  am  glad  of  it/'  replied  Mont- 
calm. "  How  long  have  I  to  live  ?"  he  inquired.  "  Ten  or 
twelve  hours — perhaps  less,"  was  the  reply.  "  So  much 
the  better ;  I  shall  not  live  to  see  the  surrender  of  Quebec!" 
the  dying  general  said.  That  night  he  "  spent  with  God," 
and  expired  in  the  morning.  His  remains  were  buried  in 
the  grounds  of  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Quebec.  Wolfe's 
were  conveyed  to  England  and  laid  in  his  family  vault,  and 
his  government  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  Massachusetts,  grateful  for  his  ser- 
vices, decreed  a  marble  statue  of  him.  Almost  seventy 
years  afterward,  an  English  governor  of  Canada  caused  a 
noble  obelisk  of  granite  to  be  erected  in  the  city  of  Quebec 

"  TO    THE    MEMORY    OF   WoLFE    AND    MONTCALM." 

General  Townshend  succeeded  Wolfe  in  the  command 
of  the  army.  The  French  had  left  five  hundred  of  their 
comrades  dead  on  the  field  when  they  fled.  Townshend 
took  possession  of  their  position,  and  commenced  the  erec- 
tion of  batteries  to  storm  the  city.  Some  of  the  French 
officers  desired  to  renew  the  conflict  and  hold  out  to  the 
last ;  but  the  inhabitants  within  the  walls  would  not  sub- 
mit to  such  total  destruction  of  life  and  property  as  would 
result  from  a  siege.  A  capitulation  was  agreed  upon,  and 
five  days  afterward  the  city  of  Quebec  was  surrendered  to 
the  English,  and  the  remains  of  Montcalm's  army,  under 
De  Levi,  fled  to  Montreal.  General  Murray  was  left  to 
defend  the  half  demolished  city,  and  the  British  fleet,  fear- 


1760]   ATTEMPTED    RECOVERY    OF    QUEBEC.      175 

ing  frost  and  ice,  left  the  St.  Lawrence,  carrying  away 
about  a  thousand  prisoners. 

Thus  brilliantly,  for  the  English,  ended  the  campaign 
of  1759.  Intelligence  of  the  repulse  of  the  grenadiers  at 
the  Montmorenci  reached  England  on  the  16th  of  October, 
and  added  to  the  gloom  occasioned  by  Wolfe's  desponding 
letter  to  Pitt.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  a  vessel 
arrived  with  news  of  the  victory  on  the  Plains  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  King  set  apart  a  day  for  public  thanksgiving. 
"  The  incidents  of  dramatic  fiction  could  not  be  conducted 
with  more  address,"  wrote  Horace  Walpole,  "  to  lead  an 
audience  from  despondency  to  sudden  exultation,  than  ac- 
cident prepared  to  excite  the  passions  of  a  whole  people. 
They  despaired,  they  triumphed,  and  they  wept,  for  Wolfe 
had  fallen  in  the  hour  of  victory."  But  the  conquest  of 
Canada  was  not  yet  completed. 

When  the  ice  left  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the  spring  of 
1760,  De  Levi,  at  the  command  of  Vaudreuil,  the  governor 
general  of  Canada,  proceeded  with  ten  thousand  men,  com- 
posed of  French  regulars,  Canadians,  and  Indians,  to  at- 
tempt the  recovery  of  Quebec.  Admiral  Saunders  had  left 
abundant  provisions  and  much  heavy  artillery  there,  and 
Murray,  when  the  fleet  departed,  had  seven  thousand  men 
under  his  command  for  the  defense  of  the  city.  These  were 
reduced  one  half  by  disease  during  the  winter.  De  Levi 
approached  on  the  27th  of  April,  and  on  the  28  th  the  brave 
but  weak  Murray  went  out  with  his  whole  force,  less  than 
three  thousand,  to  attack  him.  The  English  were  defeated, 
lost  all  their  artillery,  and  came  near  being  cut  off  in  their 
retreat  to  the  town.  In  this  engagement  they  lost  a  thou- 
sand men. 

De  Levi  followed  up  his  success  vigorously.  He  com- 
menced a  siege,  encamped  a  large  force  on  the  heights  of 


176  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  J^ET.  21. 

Point  Levi,  and  brought  six  French  frigates  up  to  assist  in 
beleaguring  the  city  by  land  and  water.  Meanwhile  Pitt 
had  sent  a  fleet,  under  Lord  Colville,  to  cooperate  in  de- 
fense of  the  city.  Colville  approached  with  two  ships  of 
the  line,  destroyed  the  French  vessels  in  the  presence  of 
De  Levi,  and  spread  great  alarm  in  the  French  army.  Be- 
lieving these  vessels  to  be  only  the  van  of  a  large  squadron, 
he  raised  the  siege  at  the  middle  of  May  and  retreated  pre- 
cipitately to  Montreal,  leaving  behind  him  most  of  his 
artillery  and  stores.  Murray  started  in  pursuit  of  the  fugi- 
tives, but  their  flight  was  so  rapid  that  he  could  not  over- 
take them. 

Montreal  was  the  last  remaining  stronghold  of  the 
French,  and  Amherst  might  easily  have  had  possession  of 
all  Canada  before  De  Levi  besieged  Quebec.  But  he  pre- 
ferred to  follow  the  systematic  and  tardy  plan  which  he  had 
formed  for  the  reduction  of  the  province,  to  a  quick  and 
energetic  expedition.  So  he  spent  the  whole  summer  in 
making  great  preparations  for  the  invasion.  Yaudreuil, 
meanwhile,  gathered  all  the  moral  and  material  power, 
at  his  command  at  Montreal,  for  the  final  struggle. 

Amherst's  movements,  though  slow,  were  effectual.  At 
the  head  of  almost  ten  thousand  men,  and  a  thousand  In- 
dian warriors,  under  Sir  William  Johnson,  he  proceeded  to 
Oswego,  thence  over  Lake  Ontario  and  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence. At  the  mouth  of  the  Oswegatchie  river  (now  Og- 
densburgh)  he  took  possession  of  a  French  fort  with  a 
feeble  garrison,  and  moving  on,  appeared  before  Montreal 
on  the  sixth  of  September.  On  the  same  day  Murray  ar- 
rived from  Quebec  with  four  thousand  troops  ;  and  on  the 
next  Colonel  Haviland,  who  had  marched  from  Crown 
Point,  appeared  with  three  thousand  more.  Haviland  had 
taken  possession  of  Isle  aux  Noix  on  the  way.     Vaudreuil 


1760.]  P  0  N  T  I  A  C  .  177 

perceived  the  folly  of  attempting  resistance  against  such  a 
crushing  force,  and  on  the  8th  he  signed  a  capitulation 
surrendering  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  Montreal 
and  all  Canada,  which  was  then  defined  as  a  region  cover- 
ing not  only  the  present  provinces  of  that  name,  but  part 
of  the  country  south  and  west  of  the  more  westerly  of 
the  great  lakes.  General  Gage  was  appointed  governor 
of  Montreal,  and  General  Murray  went  down  the  St. 
Lawrence  with  four  or  five  thousand  men  to  garrison 
Quebec. 

The  French  still  held  the  post  of  Detroit,  on  the  con- 
necting waters  between  Lakes  Erie  and  St.  Clair  ;  and 
Amherst,  feeling  that  the  conquest  of  Canada  was  not  ab- 
solutely complete  while  the  lilies  of  France  waved  over  any 
garrison  in  the  province,  however  insignificant,  sent  Major 
Kogers,  five  days  after  the  capitulation,  with  two  hundred 
of  his  rangers,  to  plant  the  English  flag  in  the  far  interior. 
At  ruined  Frontenac  the  party  were  well  treated  by  the 
Indians.  Creeping  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Ontario, 
they  made  their  way  slowly  to  Niagara,  and  there  furnished 
themselves  with  proper  costume  for  the  wilderness.  In  the 
chilly  month  of  October  they  went  over  Lake  Erie  in 
open  boats  to  its  southern  shore,  and  with  cattle  furnished 
by  Colonel  Boquet,  proceeded  by  land  to  Detroit  in  the 
midst  of  savage  tribes.  At  the  mouth  of  a  river,  accord- 
ing to  Kogers'  journal,  whose  locality  can  not  now  well 
be  defined,  they  were  met  by  a  deputation  of  Indian  chiefs 
residing  upon  the  great  peninsula  of  Michigan.  They 
informed  Rogers  that  he  was  within  the  domain  of  Pon- 
tiac,  the  famous  Ottawa  emperor,  and  advised  him  to 
wait  for  his  coming.  That  haughty  prince,  when  he 
came,  demanded  to  know  how  he  dared  to  enter  his 
country   without  his  leave.     Rogers  explained   that  he 

8* 


178  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  21. 

came  not  as  the  enemy  of  the  Indians,  but  to  remove 
the  French  ;  and  after  some  hesitation  the  Partisan  and 
his  rangers  were  suffered  to  pass  on  to  take  possession 
of  Detroit.  This  was  accomplished  at  the  close  of  No- 
vember, 1760.* 

*  "I  landed  half  a  mile  from  the  fort,"  says  Rogers  in  his  journal  "and 
drew  up  my  party  in  front  of  it  in  a  field  of  grass.  Here  Captain  Campbell 
joined  us  with  a  French  officer  bearing  Captain  Beleter's  compliments,  and 
informing  me  that  the  garrison  was  at  my  command.  Lieutenants  McCormick 
and  Leslie,  with  thirty-six  Royal  Americans,  immediately  took  possession  of 
the  fort.  The  troops  of  the  garrison  piled  their  arms,  the  French  colors  were 
taken  down,  and  the  English  flag  hoisted  in  their  place.  Upon  this,  about 
seven  hundred  Indians,  who  were  looking  on  at  a  distance,  gave  a  shout,  ex- 
ulting in  their  prediction  being  verified,  that  the  crow  represented  the  Eng- 
lish instead  of  the  French." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Colonel  Bradstreet,  still  holding  the  office  of  quar- 
termaster general  under  Amherst,  followed  his  commander 
to  Oswego  early  in  July.  He  had  suffered  much  from  the 
sickness  that  so  severely  smote  his  camp  the  year  before, 
and  feeling  still  feeble  when  the  present  campaign  was 
opened,  he  thought  it  prudent  to  commit  his  private  af- 
fairs to  the  hands  of  some  friend  in  whom  he  could  con- 
fide. For  this  important  trust  he  chose  Philip  Schuyler, 
and  he  addressed  to  him  the  following  letter  : 

"  Albany,  July  6,  1760. 
"  Dear  Sir  :  As  all  my  private  affairs  are  in  my  leather  portmanteau 
trunk,  I  hereby  commit  it  to  your  care  and  protection,  to  the  end  that 
it  may  be  delivered  safe  to  my  wife  and  children,  now  at  Boston,  in  case 
of  my  decease  this  campaign,  and  by  your  own  hand,  in  which  you  will 
ever  oblige  your  faithful  friend, 

"  John  Bradstreet." 

Colonel  Bradstreet  appears,  on  further  reflection,  to 
have  considered  Mr.  Schuyler  the  most  trustworthy  of  all 
his  friends  with  whom,  in  the  event  of  his  death,  he  might 
leave  the  settlement  of  his  public  accounts,  and  on  the 
succeeding  day  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to  him  : 

"  Your  zeal,  punctuality,  and  strict  honesty  in  his  Majesty's  service, 
under  my  direction,  for  weveral  years  past,  are  sufficient  proofs  that  I 
can't  leave  my  public  accounts  and  papers  in  a  more  faithful  hand  than 
in  yours  to  be  settled,  should  any  accident  happen  me  this  campaign ; 
wherefore,  that  I  may  provide  against  it.  and  that  a  faithful  account 


180  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  28. 

may  be  rendered  to  the  public  of  all  the  public  money  which  I  have  re- 
ceived since  the  war,  I  now  deliver  you  all  my  public  accounts  and 
vouchers,  and  do  hereby  empower  you  to  settle  them  with  whomsoever 
may  be  appointed  for  that  purpose,  either  in  America  or  England.  And 
for  your  care  and  trouble  therein,  as  well  as  for  your  faithful  and  useful 
services  to  the  public,  I  am  persuaded,  on  your  producing  this  paper, 
you  will  be  properly  rewarded,  if  settled  in  America,  by  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, if  in  England,  by  the  administration.  The  accounts 
are  clear,  and  vouchers  distinct  and  complete  up  to  this  time,  except 
trifles.     I  am,  sir,  your  faithful,  humble  servant, 

"John  Bradstreet." 

Too  feeble  in  health  to  accompany  Amherst's  expedi- 
tion down  the  St.  Lawrence,  Bradstreet  remained  at  Os- 
wego in  the  exercise  of  his  official  duties,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  campaign  was  joined  at  Albany  by  his  family,  who 
came  from  Boston.  The  intercolonial  war  had  now  ceased, 
though  the  French  and  British  continued  hostilities  upon 
the  ocean,  and  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  western  and  south- 
ern frontiers  of  the  English  colonies,  having  tasted  blood, 
made  frequent  ha^voc  of  life  and  property  among  the  set- 
tlers. The  provincial  forces,  except  those. that  appeared 
necessary  to  repel  these  savage  inroads,  were  disbanded, 
and  all  industrial  pursuits  were  resumed. 

As  quartermaster  general,  Colonel  Bradstreet  had  many 
accounts  to  settle  with  the  home  government  at  the  close 
of  1760.  He  preferred  to  go  to  the  source  of  authority  for 
the  purpose  rather  than  transact  his  business  with  agents 
in  America.  His  feeble  health  and  the  cares  of  a  family 
made  it  difficult  for  him  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  again  he 
turned  to  his  young  friend,  Philip  Schuyler,  as  his  most 
trustworthy  agent. 

At  Bradstreet' s  solicitation,  Mr.  Schuyler  went  to  Eng- 
land early  in  1761.  In  return  for  the  confidence  which 
that  officer  had  reposed  in  him,  Mr.  Schuyler,  by  a  power 
of  attorney^  constituted  his  "  good  friend,   Colonel  John 


1761.]  VOYAGE     TO     ENGLAND.  181 

Bradstreet,"  his  agent  for  the  management  and  disposition 
of  his  property  during  his  absence  or  in  the  event  of  his 
death.  They  had  purchased  broad  acres  of  land  together 
in  the  Mohawk  valley,  near  the  present  city  of  Utica,  and 
the  business  of  each  was  well  known  to  the  other.  The 
power  of  attorney  was  executed  on  the  16th  day  of  Febru- 
ary, 1761,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  whither  Mr.  Schuyler 
had  gone  for  the  purpose  of  embarkation  for  England. 

The  precise  date  of  his  departure  is  not  on  record,  and 
the  name  of  the  vessel  can  only  be  conjectured  from  a 
vague  letter  of  the  captain  of  a  French  privateer,  to  which 
reference  will  be  made  presently.  That  name  was  The  Gen- 
eral Wall,  and  was  a  packet.  As  soon  as  Schuyler  went 
on  board  he  became  interested  in  the  management  of  the 
vessel,  especially  in  the  mathematical  features  of  the  navi- 
gator's art,  and  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  its  study. 
That  application  was  timely  and  fortunate,  for  the  captain 
soon  died,  and  the  passengers  and  crew,  with  common  con- 
bent,  made  Mr.  Schuyler  the  commander. 

On  the  voyage  they  met  a  dismantled  slaver  in  great 
distress.  She  had  been  driven  about  upon  the  ocean  for 
several  days  in  a  severe  storm.  Her  water  and  provisions 
were  exhausted.  Schuyler  transferred  the  crew  to  his 
own  vessel,  and  ordered  the  hatches  of  the  slaver  to  be 
opened,  to  give  the  two  hundred  negroes  a  chance  for  their 
lives.  A  few  days  afterward  he  met  a  vessel  laden  with 
horses,  bound  for  the  West  Indies,  and  he  requested  the 
captain  to  seek  the  slaver  and  feed  the.  miserable  starve- 
lings on  horse-flesh. 

Not  long  after  this,  Schuyler's  vessel  was  captured  by 
the  French  privateer  La  Biscayen,  of  Bayonne,  com- 
manded by  M.  Lafargue,  who  placed  his  lieutenant  on 
board  the  prize.     The  latter  officer  appears  to  have  made 


182  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  28. 

immediate  arrangements  for  the  ransom  of  his  prisoners,  de- 
manding from  Schuyler  fifty  pounds  sterling  as  his  share 
of  the  ransom  money.  But  the  Frenchmen's  prize  was 
soon  lost,  for  the  captors  and  the  captives  were  seized  by 
an  English  frigate,  and  conveyed  to  London. 

On  the  13th  of  April  Lafargue  addressed  a  polite  letter 
to  Schuyler.  After  first  disclaiming  all  collusion  with  his 
brother  officer  in  making  the  extortionate  demand  for  his 
ransom,  he  reminded  Schuyler  of  the  good  treatment  he 
had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  writer  while  he  was  a 
prisoner;  and  then,  coming  to  the  main  object  of  his  letter, 
he  implored  him  to  use  his  influence  in  procuring  the  re- 
lease of  his  two  brothers,  who  were  officers  of  another 
privateer  of  Bayonne,  commanded  by  Lafargue's  brother- 
in-law,  that  had  been  captured  by  an  English  frigate.* 

Intelligence  of  Schuyler's  escape  reached  his  friends 
at  the  middle  of  May,  and  gave  them  great  joy,  for  the 
ocean  was  swarming  with  privateers.  William  Smith,  the 
historian,  his  warm  personal  friend,  wrote  to  him  from 
New  York  on  the  15th  of  May,  saying  : 

"  The  packet  arrived  last  night,  and  another  sails  suddenly  in  the 
morning,  so  that  I  have  only  time  for  a  word.  I  congratulate  you  most 
heartily  on  your  escape  and  arrival,  and  extreme  good  fortune  in  saving 
your  papers.  Colonel  De  Lanceyt  forwarded  your  letters  to  Mrs.  Schuy- 
ler and  Colonel  Bradstreet  by  express  before  I  got  mine  from  the  post 
office.     I  shall  write  to  her  by  the  first  post. 

"  We  are  surprised  by  the  late  changes  among  the  principal  officers. 
What  is  Lord  Stirling  about  ?  I  am  sorry  to  find  him  unnoticed  in  the 
American  preferments.  Pray  let  us  know  every  thing  on  your  side  that 
concerns  us.  What  sort  of  folks  have  the  plantation  affairs  in  their 
hands." 

Much  uneasiness  was  then  felt  in  the  colonies  in  respect 

*  Autograph  letter. 

\  Oliver  De  Lancey,  brother  of  James  De  Lancey,  and  commander  of  a 
corps  of  loyalists  in  the  war  for  independence. 


1761.]  LORD     STIRLING.  183 

to  the  future,  George  the  Second  had  died  in  the  autumn 
of  1760,  and  his  grandson  had  ascended  the  throne,  at  the 
age  of  less  than  twenty  years,  as  George  the  Third.  His 
mother  appears  to  have  been  quite  enamored  of  the  Earl 
of  Bute,  a  gay  but  poor  and  unprincipled  Scotch  adven- 
turer, who  had  been  the  prince's  tutor,  and  had  great  in- 
fluence over  the  young  king.  The  eminent  Pitt  was  actu- 
ally treated  with  indifference,  and  the  changes  to  which  the 
writer  of  the  foregoing  letter  alluded  was  the  retirement  of 
that  great  statesman  from  the  head  of  the  imperial  cabinet, 
and  his  place  substantially  supplied  by  the  shallow  Bute. 
From  that  hour  the  rapid  alienation  of  the  colonies  from 
the  crown  began. 

William  Alexander  (Lord  Stirling)  was  yet  in  England, 
whither  he  went  with  Governor  Shirley  in  1756,  and  by  the 
advice  of  friends  had  taken  measures  to  obtain  from  gov- 
ernment a  recognition  of  his  title  of  Earl  of  Stirling,  de- 
rived from  his  father,  who  had  been  attainted  because  of 
his  participation  in  the  rebellion  of  1716,  when  the  son  of 
James  the  Second  made  an  attempt  to  obtain  the  sover- 
eignty of  England.  Alexander  failed  in  securing  the  legal 
recognition  of  his  title,  but  his  right  to  it  was  so  generally 
conceded  that  he  was  ever  afterward  addressed  as  Lord 
Stirling.  He  and  Schuyler  had  become  warm  personal 
friends  when  the  former  was  at  Albany  in  1756,  as  Shir- 
ley's military  secretary,  and  now  they  again  met  as  friends 
in  England.  They  returned  to  America  in  the  same  vessel, 
and  in  the  struggle  for  freedom  which  soon  afterward  com- 
menced in  the  colonies  they  were  compatriots  and  fellow 
soldiers. 

Mr.  Schuyler  laid  the  accounts  with  which  he  had  been 
entrusted,  and  which  he  had  arranged  in  perfect  order  for 
Colonel  Bradstreet,  before  the  proper  committee  of  Parlia- 


184  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  28 

ment,  and  lie  was  highly  complimented  for  their  accuracy 
and  neatness.  "  There  was  then  but  one  man  in  England 
who  could  compute  faster  than  himself."*  Having  com- 
pleted his  business,  visited  some  of  the  principal  places 
in  England,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  lead- 
ing men  there,  Mr.  Schuyler  returned  home  toward  the 
close  of  summer,  to  find  public  feeling  deeply  stirred  by 
causes  which  speedily  brought  about  an  open  rupture  be- 
tween the  colonies  and  the  parent  country. 

For  a  hundred  years  the  colonists  had  been  subjected  to 
oppressive  commercial  restrictions,  the  first  oppressive  navi- 
gation act  bearing  the  date  of  1660,  the  year  when  Charles 
the  Second  ascended  the  throne.  In  the  weakness  of  their  in- 
fancy the  colonists  had  been  compelled  to  submit  to  those 
restrictions,  though  often  with  a  bad  grace.  But  as  they 
increased  in  numbers,  and  circumstances  taught  them  to 
perceive  their  rapidly  augmenting  strength,  they  felt  their 
manhood  stirring  too  strongly  within  them  to  submit  any 
longer  without  uttering  a  protest.  Their  industry  and 
commerce  were  becoming  too  productive  and  expansive  to 
be  confined  within  the  narrow  limits  of  those  restrictions 
which  the  Board  of  Trade  had  from  time  to  time  imposed, 
and  they  determined  henceforth  to  regard  them  as  mere 
ropes  of  sand.  They  resolved  no  longer  to  submit  to  laws 
which  declared  that  all  manufactories  of  iron  and  steel  in 
the  colonies  should  be  considered  "  a  common  nuisance,"  to 
be  abated  within  thirty  days  after  notice  being  given,  or 
the  owner  should  be  subjected  to  a  fine  of  one  thousand 
dollars  ;  that  prohibited  the  "  erection  or  contrivance  of 
any  mill  or  other  engine  for  slitting  or  rolling  iron,  or 
any  plating  forge  to  work  with  a  tilt-hammer,  or  any  fur- 

*  Statement  of  Mrs.  Catharine  Yan  Rennselaer  Cochran,  General  Schuy- 
ler's }Toungest  and  last  surviving  child. 


17G0.J  POSITION     OF     THE     COLONIES.  185 

nace  for  making  steel  in  the  colonies  ;"  that  forbade  the 
exportation  of  hats  from  one  colony  to  another,  and  allowed 
no  hatter  to  have  more  than  two  apprentices  at  one  time  ; 
that  burdened  imported  sugar,  rum,  and  molasses  with  exor- 
bitant duties  ;  and  that  forbade  the  Carolinians  cutting  down 
the  juicy  trees  of  their  vast  pine  forests,  and  converting 
their  wood  into  staves  and  their  sap  into  turpentine  and 
tar,  for  commercial  purposes. 

During  many  long  and  gloomy  years  the  colonists  had 
struggled  up,  unaided  and  alone,  from  feebleness  to  strength. 
They  had  erected  forts,  raised  armies,  and  fought  battles 
cheerfully  for  England's  glory  and  their  own  preservation, 
without  England's  aid  and  often  without  her  sympathy. 
During  the  Seven  Years'  War,  whose  turmoil  was  now  ended 
in  America,  did  they  cheerfully  tax  themselves  and  contri- 
bute men,  money,  and  provisions.  They  lost,  during  that 
war,  twenty-five  thousand  robust  young  men,  besides  many 
seamen.  That  war  cost  the  colonies,  in  the  aggregate,  full 
twenty  millions  of  dollars,  besides  the  flower  of  their  youth  ; 
and  in  return  Parliament  granted  them,  during  the  contest, 
at  different  periods,  only  about  five  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars.  And  yet  the  British  ministry,  in  1760,  while  the 
colonists  were  so  generously  supporting  the  power  and 
dignity  of  the  realm,  regarded  their  services  as  the  mere  ex- 
ercise of  the  duties  of  subjects  to  their  sovereign,  and  de- 
clared that,  notwithstanding  grants  of  money  had  been  made 
to  them,  they  expected  to  get  it  all  back,  by  imposing  a  tax 
upon  them  after  the  war,  in  order  to  raise  a  revenue.  Even 
the  generous  Pitt  used  language  of  this  kind  in  a  letter  to 
the  governor  of  Virginia.  It  was  the  language  of  a  minister 
who  saw  the  treasury  of  his  country  empty — exhausted  by 
a  long  and  expensive  war,  not  yet  ended,  and  with  enormous 
demands  upon  it,  which  called  for  taxation  in  every  con- 


186  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  27 

ceivable  form — and  who  always  maintained  that  his  govern- 
ment had  the  right  to  tax  the  colonies. 

The  resignation  of  Pitt  (who  was  disgusted  with  some 
of  his  shallow  and  corrupt  colleagues)  at  that  crisis  was  a 
most  unfortunate  occurrence  for  England,  for  while  the 
Earl  of  Egremont,  a  weak  and  passionate  man,  was  his 
nominal  successor,  the  Earl  of  Bute  was  the  controling 
power  in  the  cabinet,  because  of  his  connection  with  the 
King  and  his  mother.  And  around  Bute  moved  satellites 
obsequious  alike  to  himself  and  the  monarch.  The  most 
fawning  of  these  was  Doddington,  who  had  been  raised  to 
the  peerage  as  Lord  Melcombe.  "  He  was  to  Bute," 
says  Bancroft,  "what  Bute  was  to  George  the  Third." 
He  wished  Bute  joy,  on  the  resignation  of  Pitt,  "  of  being 
delivered  of  a  most  impracticable  colleague,  his  Majesty  of 
a  most  imperious  servant,  and  the  country  of  a  most  dan- 
gerous minister."  He  said,  "  men  of  the  city  are  not  to 
demand  reasons  of  measures  ;  they  must,  and  they  easily 
may  be  taught  better  manners."  Lord  Barrington  said  of 
the  weak  King,  "  He  is  the  best  and  most  amiable  master 
that  ever  lived  since  the  days  of  Titus.  *  *  *  God  has  or- 
dained him  with  the  prerogative,  and  left  to  his  servants 
the  glory  of  obedience."  Such  were  the  men  who  sur- 
rounded the  young  monarch  and  gave  direction  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  England — the  great  public  interests  of  a  people 
who,  by  their  moral  and  material  strength,  had  just  taken 
the  foremost  rank  in  the  family  of  nations. 

The  importance  of  the  American  colonies  was  now  ac- 
knowledged, and  the  parent  government  viewed  them  with 
mingled  feelings  of  pride  and  jealousy.  Secret  agents  were 
dispatched  to  ascertain  and  report  to  the  ministry  the  real 
condition  of  the  colonists.  Some  of  these  gave  such  fabulous 
accounts  of  their  wealth  and  great  resources  that  the  govern- 


1*761.]  WRITS     OF     ASSISTANCE.  187 

merit  resolved  to  draw  much  revenue  from  them  ;  and  the 
democratic  tendency  of  the  people,  who  seemed  to  inhale  a 
love  of  liberty  with  the  free  air  of  their  fresh  world,  was  so 
magnified  that  the  government  was  alarmed.  Long  and 
anxious  were  the  councils  of  the  advisers  of  the  young 
King,  and  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  whose  charge  the  general 
affairs  of  the  colonies  rested,  proposed  to  annul  all  the  col- 
onial charters,  reduce  each  colony  to  a  royal  government, 
and  vigorously  enforce  all  existing  revenue  laws.  At  the 
same  time  the  dignitaries  of  the  established  church,  acting 
in  concert  with  the  government,  proposed  plans  for  making 
the  doctrines  and  rituals  of  the  Church  of  England  the 
state  religion  in  America. 

The  first  act  which  revealed  the  intentions  of  the  Par- 
liament to  enforce  the  oppressive  revenue  laws  was  the 
authorization  of  writs  of  assistance.  These  were  general 
search  warrants,  which  not  only  allowed  the  King's  civil 
and  naval  officers,  who  held  them,  to  break  open  any  citi- 
zen's store  or  dwelling  to  search  for  suspected  contraband 
goods,  but  compelled  sheriffs  and  other  local  officers  to 
assist  in  the  work.  The  sanctities  of  private  life  might 
thus  be  invaded,  as  a  cotemporary  asserted,  "  by  the  mean- 
est deputy  of  a  deputy's  deputy."  The  political  maxim 
of  the  English  constitution,  that  every  man's  house  is  his 
castle,  was  thus  violated,  and  the  people  subjected  to  the 
most  obnoxious  form  of  petty  tyranny.  They  resolved  not 
to  submit  to  it. 

In  Massachusetts,  where  American  commerce  had  first 
budded  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter  before,  and  had 
now  become  vastly  important,  the  first  firm  voice  of  oppo- 
sition to  the  writs  of  assistance  was  heard.  A  question 
arose  whether  the  persons  employed  in  enforcing  the  revenue 
laws  should  have  power  to  invoke  generally  the  assistance 


188  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  28. 

of  all  the  executive  officers  of  the  colony.  Chief  Justice 
Hutchinson  appointed  a  day  when  arguments  upon  the 
question  would  be  heard  in  the  old  Town  Hall  in  Boston. 
The  court  for  the  purpose  was  held  in  February,  1761.  It 
was  argued  on  one  side  that  the  revenue  officers  in  America 
had  like  powers  with  those  of  England,  and  to  refuse  a  writ 
of  assistance  to  them  would  be  in  effect  to  deny  that  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  was  the  sovereign  legislature 
of  the  British  empire. 

It  was  argued  on  the  other  hand  that  such  an  act  was 
in  violation  of  the  British  constitution,  and  therefore  void. 
"No  act  of  Parliament,"  said  the  fiery  James  Otis,  of 
Barnstable,  then  advocate  general  of  the  colony,  "  can  es- 
tablish such  a  writ."  With  burning  words  and  vehemence 
of  manner  that  were  but  faint  expressions  of  his  feelings, 
that  wonderful  man,  then  properly  named  the  "  great  in- 
cendiary of  New  England,"  portrayed  the  nature  and 
effects  of  these  writs,  which  compelled  the  whole  govern- 
ment and  the  oppressed  people  to  render  aid  in  enforcing 
the  unrighteous  revenue  laws  for  the  colonies.  "  I  am  de- 
termined," he  said  "to  sacrifice  estate,  ease,  health,  ap- 
plause, and  even  life,  to  the  sacred  calls  of  my  country  in 
opposition  to  a  kind  of  power  which  cost  one  king  of  Eng- 
land his  head  and  another  his  throne.  These  writs,"  he 
exclaimed,  "  are  the  worst  instrument  of  arbitrary  power, 
the  most  destructive  of  English  liberty  and  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  of  law." 

The  majority  of  the  judges  believed  Otis  to  be  right  ; 
and  when,  according  to  John  Adams,  who  was  present,  the 
orator  exclaimed  "  to  my  dying  day  I  will  oppose,  with  all 
the  power  and  faculties  that  God  has  given  me,  all  such 
instruments  of  slavery  on  one  hand  and  villainy  on  the 
other,"  the  whole  audience  seemed  ready  to  take  up  arms 


1761.]  NEW     YORK     DISTURBED.  189 

against  the  writs  of  assistance  and  kindred  measures. 
"  Then  and  there/'  said  Adams,  "  American  independence 
was  born  ;  the  seeds  of  patriots  were  then  and  there  sown." 

Hutchinson,  ambitious  of  royal  favor,  and  grasping  for 
the  emoluments  of  office  which  that  favor  might  secure  to 
him,  took  sides  with  the  crown,  and  thereby  planted  in  his 
own  side  that  thorn  of  popular  distrust  which  finally  led 
to  his  ignominious  flight  to  England.  Great  discontents 
followed,  and  the  fires  of  the  Revolution  began  to  kindle  all 
over  the  land. 

The  province  of  New  York,  at  this  time,  was  power- 
fully agitated,  not  so  much  by  religious  controversies,  which 
before  the  war  had  occupied  a  large  space  in  the  public 
mind,  nor  by  the  writs  of  assistance  which  had  inflamed 
Massachusetts,  but  because  a  blow  had  been  struck  at  the 
independence  of  the  judiciary.  Lieutenant  Governor  De 
Lancey  had  died  suddenly,  at  the  close  of  July,  1760,  after 
spending  several  hours  at  a  dinner  party  on  Staten  Island, 
and  the  government  devolved  temporarily  on  Dr.  Cadwal- 
lader  Colden,  the  president  of  the  council.  Colden  was 
then  seventy- three  years  of  age.  On  hearing  of  the  death 
of  De  Lancey,  he  came  from  his  rural  retreat  in  Orange 
county  and  took  up  his  residence  at  the  province  house  in 
the  fort  at  New  York.  General  Monckton,  who  had  lately 
been  appointed  governor  of  the  province,  was  too  much  en- 
gaged in  military  affairs  to  pay  any  attention  to  civil  duties, 
and  he  joined  in  a  recommendation  for  the  appointment  of 
Colden  as  lieutenant  governor. 

The  chief  justice  of  the  province  had  lately  died.  As 
the  other  judges  had  some  doubts  as  to  the  validity  of  their 
commissions,  since  the  demise  of  the  late  King,  they  and 
the  people  urged  Dr.  Colden  to  fill  the  vacant  seat  of  the 
chief  justice  immediately,  that  processes  might  not  cease. 


190  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  28. 

Colden's  reply  was  ambiguous.  He  was  contemplating  his 
own  aggrandizement,  and  had  resolved  to  compliment  the 
Earl  of  Halifax,  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies,  by  de- 
siring him  to  nominate  a  chief  justice.  This  was  done,  and 
more.  Through  the  influence  of  Governor  Pownall,  Pratt, 
a  Boston  lawyer,  was  not  nominated  but  actually  appointed 
chief  justice  of  New  York,  to  hold  his  office,  not,  as  before 
the  late  sovereign's  death,  "  during  good  behavior,"  but  "  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  King." 

The  assembly  and  the  people  were  startled  by  this  blow 
at  the  independence  of  the  judiciary.  They  held  this  new 
tenure  of  judicial  power  to  be  inconsistent  with  liberty  in 
America.  To  make  the  King's  will,  they  said,  the  tenure 
of  office,  is  to  make  the  bench  of  judges  the  instrument 
of  the  royal  prerogative.  The  administration  of  justice 
throughout  all  America  will  thus  be  subjected  to  an 
absolutely  irresponsible  power.  The  assembly  rebelled 
against  this  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  the  people, 
and  resolved  that  while  the  judges  should  hold  office  by 
such  tenure  they  would  grant  them  no  salary.  They  in 
effect  declared  that  the  people  were  the  true  source  of  all 
authority.  "For  some  years  past,"  wrote  Colden,  com- 
plainingly,  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  "  three  popular  lawyers,* 
educated  in  Connecticut,  who  have  strongly  imbibed  the 
independent  principles  of  that  country,  calumniate  the  ad- 
ministration in  every  exercise  of  the  prerogative,,  and  get 
the  applause  of  the  mob  by  propagating  the  doctrine  that 
all  authority  is  derived  from  the  people." 

The  old  question  of  church  and  state  was  now  revived 
in  New  York.  It  was  strongly  suspected,  what  subse- 
quently proved  to  be  the  fact,  that  the  Episcopal  clergy 

*  These  were  "William  Livingston,  John  Morrin  Scott,  and  William  Smith, 
the  historian. 


1762.]  ECCLESIASTICAL     DISPUTES.  191 

were  in  secret  communication  with  Dr.  Seeker,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  on  the  subject  of  the  establishment  of  epis- 
copacy in  America,  and  the  extension  of  the  ecclesiastical 
dominion  of  the  Church  of  England  over  the  colonies.  Dr. 
Johnson,  the  president  of  King's  College  in  New  York,  had 
this  project  deeply  at  heart,  and  in  his  zeal  he  revealed  suf- 
ficient to  alarm  the  fears  of  the  more  timid  or  watchful  op- 
ponents of  the  scheme.  The  colonists  opposed  it  on  political 
grounds  only.  They  knew  that  if  Parliament  could  create 
dioceses  and  appoint  bishops,  it  would  introduce  tithes  and 
crush  so-called  heresy.  They  remembered  the  character  of 
the  hierarchy  from  the  oppression  of  which  the  ancestors  of 
the  Puritans  had  fled,  and,  conscious  of  the  natural  alliance 
between  a  banded  church  and  state  in  all  measures  affect- 
ing each  other,  it  was  fair  to  conclude  that  if  the  British 
government  was  assuming  the  character  of  a  tyranical 
master,  the  church  would  necessarily  be  its  abettor.  They 
also  knew,  from  the  teachings  of  all  history,  that  the  most 
implacable  tyrant  was  an  ecclesiastical  one. 

For  these  reasons,  those  who  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
people  in  their  opposition  to  the  oppressive  measures  of 
government  (and  among  them  was  found  Philip  Schuyler) 
were  vigilant  in  watching  and  active  in  thwarting  every 
movement  that  tended  to  episcopacy  in  America.  In  the 
popular  discussions  of  the  rights  of  the  people  in  the 
province  of  New  York,  the  ecclesiastical  topic  formed  an 
elemental  and  substantial  part  for  many  years.  The  con- 
troversy was  sometimes  upon  the  ecclesiastical  topic  alone, 
and  ran  high.  The  newspapers  and  pamphlets  were  the 
principal  vehicles  by  which  the  sentiments  and  the  argu- 
ments of  the  controversialists  were  conveyed  to  the  people 
at  large.  Art  was  sometimes  evoked  to  aid  the  pen.  One 
example  will  suffice  to  illustrate   the   character   of  this 


132  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEr.  29. 

auxilliary  and  the  spirit  of  the  opposition.  The  Political 
llegister  for  1769,  when  the  religious  controversy  we  are 
considering  was  at  its  height,  contained  a  picture  entitled 
"  An  attempt  to  land  a  Bishop  in  America."  A  portion 
of  a  vessel  called  The  Hillsborough  (in  allusion  to  the  Earl 
of  Hillsborough,  then  the  colonial  secretary)  is  seen.  She 
is  lying  at  a  wharf,  on  which  is  a  crowd  of  earnest  people, 
some  with  poles  pushing  her  from  her  moorings.  One  holds 
up  a  book  inscribed  "  Sidney  on  Government  ;"  another 
has  a  volume  of  Locke's  Essays  ;  a  third,  in  the  garb  of  a 
Quaker,  holds  an  open  volume  inscribed  Barclay's  Apol- 
ogy, and  from  the  mouth  of  a  fourth  is  a  scroll  bearing  the 
words  "  No  lords,  spiritual  or  temporal,  in  New  England." 
Plalf  way  up  the  shrouds  of  the  vessel  is  seen  a  bishop  in 
his  robes,  his  mitre  falling,  and  a  volume  of  Calvin's  works, 
hurled  by  one  on  shore,  is  about  to  strike  his  head.  From 
his  mouth  issues  a  scroll,  inscribed,  "  Lord,  now  lettest 
thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace  !"  In  the  foreground  is 
a  paper,  on  which  is  written,  "  Shall  they  be  obliged  to 
maintain  bishops  that  can  not  maintain  themselves  ?" 
Near  it  is  seen  a  monkey  in  the  act  of  throwing  a  stone  at 
the  bishop. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  war  had  ceased  in 
America,  but  was  continued  by  the  French  and  English  on 
the  ocean  and  among  the  West  Indies  with  almost  unin- 
terrupted success  for  the  latter.  Guadaloupe  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  British  ;  and  at  the  close  of  1762  General 
Monckton,  with  fresh  laurels  on  his  brow,  produced  his 
commission  as  governor  to  the  council  of  New  York,  and 
then  sailed  from  the  capital  of  that  province  with  two  line- 
of-battle  ships,  a  hundred  transports,  and  twelve  thousand 
regular  and  colonial  troops,  the  latter  led  by  General  Ly- 
man, the  former  lieutenant  of  General  Sir  William  John- 


1763.]  TREATY     OF     PEACE.  193 

son.  Gates,  afterward  a  major-general  in  the  Revolutionary 
army,  accompanied  Monckton  as  his  aid,  and  was  honored 
as  the  hearer  of  his  general's  dispatches  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment announcing  his  capture  of  Martinique.  With 
him  Avent  also  Richard  Montgomery,  who,  the  leader  of  an 
invading  army,  was  killed  at  Quebec  at  the  close  of  1775. 
He  was  then  a  captain  in  the  service.  Both  he  and  Gates 
were  afterward  the  friends  and  companion s-in-arms  of 
Philip  Schuyler. 

Monckton  was  successful  every  where  in  the  West  In- 
dies. Grenada,  St.  Vincent's,  St.  Lucie,  and  every  island 
of  the  Caribbean  group  possessed  by  the  French  were 
speedily  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  British.  Meanwhile 
Spain  had,  by  secret  treaty  with  France,  known  as  the 
Family  Compact,  (the  sovereigns  of  each  empire  being 
Bourbons,)  become  a  party  in  the  contest.  Spain  com- 
menced hostilities  against  Great  Britain  before  the  latter 
power,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  Pitt,  who  had  information 
of  the  compact,  had  declared  war.  At  once  the  British 
cruisers  commenced  forays  upon  Spanish  colonial  commerce. 
It  was  utterly  cut  off  in  a  very  short  time,  and  in  August, 
1762,  the  Havana,  the  key  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  was 
taken  by  a  British  armament. 

The  finances  of  France  were  now  almost  ruined.  Loss 
after  loss  was  weakening  the  prestige  of  her  arms  and  sap- 
ping her  moral  and  material  strength,  and  she  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  contest,  and  with  it  all  claim  to 
territorial  possession  on  the  North  American  continent. 
Finally,  on  the  3d  of  November,  1762,  a  preliminary  treaty 
was  negotiated  at  Fontainebleau,  and  definitely  concluded 
at  Paris,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1763,  by  which  all  the 
vast  region  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  (except  the  island 
of  New  Orleans,  which,  with  Louisiana,  had  been  ceded  by 

9 


194  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  30. 

France  to  Spain,)  was  given  up  to  the  British.  Spain, 
then  in  possession  of  Florida,  gave  it  for  the  Havana,  and 
the  sovereignty  of  the  whole  eastern  half  of  North  America, 
from  the  orange  groves  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  polar 
ice,  was  vested  in  the  British  crown. 

But  the  Indians  on  the  southern  and  western  frontiers, 
incited  by  French  emissaries,  were  yet  restless  and  unsub- 
dued. Those  on  the  borders  of  the  Carolinas  were  making 
frequent  bloody  forays  upon  the  settlements.  Mutual 
wrongs,  inflicted  by  the  Virginians  and  Carolinians,  and 
the  warlike  Cherokees  —  the  bold  mountaineers  of  the 
southern  country — kindled  a  fierce  war  in  the  spring  of 
1760.  In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  the  whole  frontier  of 
the  Carolinas  was  desolated  by  the  savages.  General  Am- 
herst heeded  the  calls  of  the  southrons  for  aid,  and  in 
April,  Colonel  Montgomery,  with  some  British  regulars 
and  provincial  troops,  marched  from  Charleston  and  laid 
waste  a  portion  of  the  Cherokee  country.  Yet  these  bold 
highlanders  were  not  subdued.  The  following  year  Colonel 
Grant  led  a  still  stronger  force  against  them,  burned  their 
towns,  desolated  their  fields,  and  killed  many  of  their  war- 
riors. Then  they  humbly  sued  for  peace.  It  was  granted 
at  a  treaty  in  June,  1761,  and  comparative  repose  was 
vouchsafed  to  the  frontier  settlers  for  several  years. 

Meanwhile  French  emissaries  were  stirring  up  the  north- 
western tribes  to  hostilities  against  the  English.  The  cloud 
of  danger  soon  became  most  portentous.  Pontiac,  the  sa- 
gacious chief  of  the  Ottawas,  who  met  Rogers  on  his  way 
to  Detroit,  and  who  had  been  an  early  ally  of  the  French, 
secretly  confederated  several  of  the  Algonquin  tribes,  in 
1763,  for  expelling  the  English  from  the  country  west  of  the 
Alleghanies.  That  wily  chief  had  professed  attachment  to 
the  English.     There  appeared  safety  on  the  borders  of  his 


1764]  PONTIAC'S     WAR.  195 

dominions,  and  emigration  began  to  pour  a  living  flood  into 
the  wilderness.  Pontiac  became  alarmed  at  this  subtle  in- 
vasion. He  saw  in  the  dim  future  his  whole  land  in  pos- 
session of  the  pale  faces,  and  his  race  driven  away  or 
extinguished.  With  patriotic  impulse  he  resolved  to  strike 
a  deadly  blow  for  kindred  and  country.  Secretly  he  con- 
federated the  savage  tribes  ;  adroitly  he  eluded  the  vigilance 
of  the  white  man  ;  and  within  a  fortnight,  in  the  summer 
of  1763,  all  the  frontier  posts  west  of  Oswego,  possessed  by 
the  English,  fell  into  his  hands,  except  Niagara,  Fort  Pitt, 
and  Detroit.  Boquet  saved  Fort  Pitt ;  Niagara  was  not 
attacked  ;  and  Detroit,  after  sustaining  a  siege  almost 
twelve  months,  was  relieved  by  a  provincial  force,  under 
Colonel  Bradstreet,  in  May,  1764.  Soon  after  this,  the 
power  of  the  Indians  was  completely  broken,  and  the  last 
act  in  the  drama  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  was  closed. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

After  the  peace  of  1763,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  called  into 
the  service  of  the  colony  in  various  civil  employments.  At 
the  same  time  he  was  assiduously  engaged  in  the  manage- 
ment of  his  own  private  affairs,  the  operations  of  which 
were  constantly  increasing.  With  Colonel  Bradstreet, 
Philip  Livingston,  and  later,  with  Sir  Henry  Moore,  the 
governor  of  the  colony,  he  was  a  frequent  purchaser  from 
the  Indians  and  others  of  lands  in  the  Hudson  and  Mo- 
hawk vallies.  He  had  an  interest  in  lands  about  Port 
Edward,  and  in  the  Van  Rensselaer  estate  in  Columbia 
county.  He  also  had  large  tracts  of  land  in  Duchess 
county  and  in  the  manor  of  Cortland.  His  ample  Sara- 
toga estate  was  the  most  valuable  of  all,  for  it  was  im- 
proved, and  had  mills  of  considerable  importance  at  the 
falls  of  the  Fish  Creek.  He  had  a  schooner  named  Mo- 
haick,  in  trade  on  the  Hudson  ;  also  two  or  three  sloops ; 
and  he  was  active  in  efforts  to  promote  emigration  from 
Europe  to  the  wild  lands  of  the  west. 

When  in  London,  in  1761,  Mr.  Schuyler  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  eminent  surgeon,  Professor  Thomas 
Brand,  with  whom  he  kept  up  a  correspondence  for  some 
time.  At  the  close  of  1763  he  wrote  a  letter  to  that  gen- 
tleman, in  which  he  laid  before  him  a  plan  for  a  settlement 
at  Detroit,  which  had  been  proposed  by  Colonel  Bradstreet, 
in  which  Mr.  Schuyler  appears  to  have  taken  great  interest. 


1764]  UNWISE     POLICY.  197 

The  object  of  that  portion  of  Schuyler's  letter  was  to  en- 
gage the  cooperation  of  the  ministry  in  promoting  emigra- 
tion to  America,  and  especially  to  the  western  wilderness 
lately  wrested  from  the  French.  In  his  reply  to  that  letter, 
in  March  following,  Professor  Brand  informed  him  that 
schemes  for  settlement  did  not  in  the  least  occupy  the  at- 
tention of  the  ministry  or  the  people.  The  chief  objection, 
he  said,  was  the  fact  that  the  war  had  cost  so  many  lives 
that  none  could  then  be  spared  from  England  for  the  pur- 
pose of  settlement  in  the  New  World.  "  But  Germany," 
he  added,  "  might  and  would  supply  us  upon  a  proper  pro- 
posal, and  even  a  colony  of  Jews  would  be  of  service  and 
of  public  benefit."* 

Professor  Brand  seems  not  to  have  been  aware  that  at 
that  very  time  the  ministry  were  casting  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  emigration  to  America,  and  especially  of  Germans, 
who  were  generally  liberty  loving  men.  Some  had  already 
gone  into  New  England,  and  more  into  Pennsylvania.  The 
emigration. of  French  Koman  Catholics  to  Maryland,  which 
had  commenced,  was  discouraged;  and  the  easy  terms  upon 
which  wild  lands  might  be  procured  were  so  materially 
changed  that,  toward  the  dawning  of  the  Kevolution,  the 
vast  solitudes  west  of  the  Alleghanies  were  seldom  pene- 
trated by  any  but  the  hunter  from  the  seaboard  provinces. 
This  conduct  of  the  government  proceeded  from  the  narrow 
and  unwise  policy  toward  the  colonies,  based  chiefly  upon  a 
jealousy  of  their  increasing  strength  and  importance,  which 
marked  the  first  ten  years  or  more  of  the  reign  of  George 
the  Third,  and  formed  one  of  the  counts  of  the  indictment 
of  that  monarch,  when  he  was  arraigned,  by  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  in  1776,  before  the  bar  of  the  nations. 
"He  has  endeavored/'  says  that  Declaration,  "to  prevent 

*  Autograph  letter. 


198  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  31. 

the  population  of  these  States,  for  that  purpose  obstructing 
the  laws  for  the  naturalization  of  foreigners ;  refusing  to 
pass  others  to  encourage  their  migration  hither,  and  raising 
the  conditions  of  new  appropriations  of  lands." 

In  another  part  of  his  letter,  Professor  Brand  informed 
Mr.  Schuyler  that  the  latter  had  been  elected  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Arts,  in  London,  and  that  a  gold  medal  had 
been  voted  by  the  Society  "  to  Mr.  Elliot,  of  New  Eng- 
land, for  discovering  iron  ore  in  the  American  black  sand, 
and  that  in  a  very  great  proportion."  Then,  after  in- 
quiring how  he  shall  send  him  papers  and  transactions, 
whether  there  is  a  library  at  Albany,  or  charts  of  the  coun- 
try about  that  city,  he  begs  him  to  continue  to  write  to 
him,  for  Schuyler  had  evidently  given  him  a  great  deal  of 
information  concerning  the  resources  of  his  country. 

In  1764,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  appointed  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  New  York,  one  of  the  commissioners  to  manage 
the  controversy  on  the  part  of  his  province  respecting  the 
partition  line  between  that  colony  and  Massachusetts  Bay, 
and  he  was  actively  engaged  in  that  discussion  in  1767, 
with  associates  and  opponents  of  the  first  rank  and  char- 
acter.* He  also  became  involved  in  the  fierce  contro- 
versy between  New  York  and  the  New  Hampshire  Grants, 
as  the  present  State  of  Vermont  was  called,  which  contin- 
ued until  the  kindling  of  the  war  for  independence. 

These  disputes  grew  out  of  the  confusion  produced  by 
royal  charters.  The  western  boundary  of  the  colonies  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  Connecticut  were,  by  their  charters, 
upon  the  "  South  Sea,"  or  Pacific  Ocean  ;  while  Charles  the 
Second  had  granted  to  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  the 
province  of  New  Netherland,  which  lay  along  the  Hudson 
river,  directly  west  of  those  colonies.     Here  was  direct  and 

*  Chancellor  Kent. 


1764]  BOUNDARY     DISPUTES.  199 

palpable  conflict,  which  nothing  bnt  mutual  concessions 
and  compromises  could  settle.  It  was  an  open  question 
when  the  Duke  obtained  possession  of  his  domain  by  con- 
quest in  1664.  Commissioners  then  settled  it  by  agreeing 
that  the  partition  line  between  New  York  and  the  New 
England  provinces  should  be  at  twenty  miles  eastward  of 
the  Hudson  river,  and  running  parallel  with  that  stream. 
This  line  was  first  established  between  New  York  and  Con- 
necticut, and  more  than  a  hundred  years  afterward,  by 
precedent,  between  New  York  and  Massachusetts  Bay. 
This  controversy  being  concluded,  New  Hampshire  ap- 
peared, and,  pleading  those  precedents,  asked  to  have  its 
own  partition  line  formed  by  the  extension  of  those  of  its 
sister  colonies  directly  northward.  New  York  had  reluct- 
antly yielded  a  similar  claim  to  Massachusetts,  and  now 
that  province  emphatically  protested  against  the  new  claim, 
declaring  that  its  eastern  boundary,  north  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts line,  was  the  Connecticut  river. 

Meanwhile,  Governor  Benning  Wentworth,  of  New 
Hampshire,  who  had  been  authorized  to  issue  patents  for 
unimproved  lands  within  the  limits  of  his  province,  yielded 
to  the  numerous  applications  of  settlers  who  were  pene- 
trating the  country  westward  of  the  Connecticut  river, 
and  made  grants  of  lands  to  them.  Some  of  these  settlers 
had  even  crossed  the  Green  mountains,  and  built  their 
pioneer  fires  on  the  wooded  shores  of  Lake  Champlain. 

Wentworth's  first  grant  for  a  township  was  in  1749. 
It  was  named  Bennington,  in  honor  of  the  governor,  and 
occupied  an  area  six  miles  square,  having  for  its  western 
boundary  a  line  parallel  with  that  between  New  York  and 
Massachusetts.  This  grant  brought  the  territorial  question 
between  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  to  an  issue.  The 
authorities   of  New  York   protested  against   the  grant. 


200  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  31 

Wentworth  paid  no  attention  to  it,  and  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  he  had  issued  patents 
for  fourteen  townships  west  of  the  Connecticut  river.  That 
war  absorbed  all  minor  considerations  for  the  time  ;  but 
when,  in  1760,  Canada  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish, the  dispute  between  New  York  and  New  Hampshire 
was  revived.  Immigration  began  to  pour  its  living  flood 
into  the  beautiful  Green  mountain  region,  and  in  the  course 
of  four  or  five  years  Wentworth  issued  patents  for  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  townships  of  the  size  of 
Bennington.  These  occupied  a  greater  portion  of  the  pre- 
sent State  of  Vermont,  and  the  territory  was  called  the 
Neio  Hampshire  Grants  from  that  time  until  the  kindling 
of  the  war  for  independence.  And  the  hardy  yeomanry 
who  first  appeared  in  arms  for  the  defense  of  their  terri- 
torial rights,  and  afterwards  as  patriots  in  the  common 
cause  when  the  Kevolution  broke  out,  were  called  Green 
Mountain  Boys. 

Lieutenant  Governor  Colden,  acting  chief  magistrate  of 
New  York  in  the  absence  of  General  Monckton,  perceiving 
the  necessity  of  asserting  the  claims  of  that  province  to  the 
country  westward  of  the  Connecticut  river,  wrote  an  ener- 
getic letter  to  Governor  Wentworth,  protesting  against  his 
grants.  He  also  sent  a  proclamation  among  the  people,  de- 
claring the  Connecticut  river  to  be  the  boundary  between 
New  York  and  New  Hampshire.  But  protests  and  pro- 
clamations were  alike  unheeded  by  the  governor  and  the 
people  until  the  year  1764,  when  the  matter  was  laid  before 
the  King  and  council  for  adjudication.  The  decision  was 
in  favor  of  New  York.  Wentworth  immediately  bowed  to 
supreme  authority,  and  ceased  issuing  patents  for  lands 
westward  of  the  Connecticut.  The  settlers,  considering 
all  questions  in  dispute  to  be  thus  finally  disposed  of,  were 


1764]  FOLLY     AND     INJUSTICE.  201 

contented,  and  went  on  hopefully  in  the  improvement  of 
their  lands.  Among  these  settlers  in  the  Bennington  town- 
ship were  members  of  the  Allen  family,  in  Connecticut, 
two  of  whom,  Ethan  and  Ira,  were  conspicuous  in  public 
affairs  for  many  years,  as  we  shall  hereafter  have  occasion 
to  observe. 

The  authorities  of  New  York,  not  content  with  the  award 
of  territorial  jurisdiction  over  the  domain,  proceeded,  on  the 
decision  of  able  legal  authority,  to  assert  the  right  of  prop- 
erty in  the  soil  of  that  territory,  and  declared  Wentworth's 
patents  all  void.  They  went  further.  Orders  were  issued  for 
for  the  survey  and  sale  of  farms  in  the  possession  of  actual 
settlers,  who  had  bought  and  paid  for  them,  and,  in  many  in- 
stances, had  made  great  progress  in  improvements.  In  this, 
New  York  acted  not  only  unjustly,  but  very  unwisely.  This 
oppression,  for  oppression  it  was,  was  a  fatal  mistake.  It 
was  like  sowing  dragons'  teeth  to  see  them  produce  a  crop 
of  full-armed  men.  The  settlers  were  disposed  to  be  quiet, 
loyal  subjects  of  New  York.  They  cared  not  who  was 
their  political  master,  so  long  as  their  private  rights  were 
respected.  But  this  act  of  injustice  converted  them  into 
rebellious  foes,  determined  and  defiant.  A  new  and  power- 
ful opposition  to  the  claims  of  New  York  was  created.  It 
was  now  no  longer  the  shadowy,  unsubstantial  government 
of  New  Hampshire,  panoplied  in  proclamations,  that  op- 
posed the  pretensions  of  New  York  ;  it  was  an  opposition 
composed  of  the  sinews  and  muskets  and  determined  wills 
of  the  people  of  the  Grants,  backed  by  all  New  Hampshire 
— aye,  by  all  New  England.  New  York  had  given  them 
the  degrading  alternative  of  leaving  their  possessions  to 
others  or  of  repurchasing  them.  As  freemen,  full  of  the 
spirit  of  true  English  liberty  coming  down  to  them  through 
their  Puritan  ancestors,  they  could  not  submit  to  this  al- 

9* 


202  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [jEt.  81. 

ternative,  and  they  preferred  to  defend  their  rights  even  at 
the  expense  of  their  blood.  Foremost  among  those  who 
took  this  decisive  stand  was  Ethan  Allen,  who  became  the 
leader  in  the  border  forays  and  irritating  movements  that 
ensued. 

The  governor  and  council  of  New  York  at  length  sum- 
moned all  the  claimants  under  the  New  Hampshire  Grants 
to  appear  before  them  at  Albany,  with  their  deeds  and 
other  evidences  of  possession,  within  three  months,  failing 
in  which,  it  was  declared  that  the  claims  of  all  delinquents 
should  be  rejected.  The  people  of  the  Grants  paid  no  at- 
tention to  the  requisition.  Meanwhile  speculators  had  been 
purchasing  from  New  York  large  tracts  of  these  estates  in 
the  disputed  territory,  and  were  making  preparations  to 
take  possession.  The  people  of  the  Grants  sent  one  of  their 
number  to  England,  and  laid  their  cause  before  the  King 
and  council.  He  came  back  in  August,  1767,  armed  with 
an  order  for  the  Governor  of  New  York  to  abstain  from 
issuing  any  more  patents  for  lands  eastward  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  But  as  the  order  was  not  ex  post  facto  in  its  oper- 
ations, the  New  York  patentees  proceeded  to  take  possession 
of  their  purchased  lands.  This  speedily  brought  on  a  crisis, 
and  for  seven  years  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  formed  a 
theater  where  all  the  elements  of  civil  war,  except  actual 
carnage,  were  in  active  exercise. 

In  these  violent  disputes  between  the  authorities  of 
New  York  and  the  people  of  the  Grants,  Mr.  Schuyler 
was  frequently  an  active  participant,  first,  indirectly,  as 
one  of  the  commissioners  for  settling  the  partition  line  be- 
tween New  York  and  Massachusetts,  then  as  colonel  of  the 
militia  of  Albany,  and  for  several  years  as  member  of  the 
New  York  General  Assembly.  Of  course,  those  who  up- 
held the  claims  of  New  York  incurred  the  bitter  resent- 


1764.]  THE     STAMP      ACT.  203 

ment  of  the  New  England  people  ;  and  as  Mr.  Schuyler 
was  among  the  most  prominent  of  them,  he  was  most 
thoroughly  disliked  by  those  who  regarded  New  York  as 
an  oppressor.  This  resentment  was  yet  felt  when  the  war 
for  independence  commenced,  and  it  frequently  appeared  in 
the  relations  between  General  Schuyler  and  the  New  Eng- 
land officers  and  troops,  when  he  was  commander-in-chief 
of  the  northern  department  of  the  continental  army. 

Another  dispute,  far  more  important,  because  more  gen- 
eral and  momentous,  occupied  the  minds  of  the  leading  men 
not  only  of  New  York  but  of  all  America  during  the  period 
we  have  just  been  considering.  It  was  a  quarrel  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies,  because  the  for- 
mer claimed  and  asserted  the  right  to  tax  the  latter,  by 
imposts  or  otherwise,  without  their  consent.  The  first 
overt  acts  of  resistance,  as  we  have  seen,  were  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  writs  of  assistance,  in  1761.  The  next  move- 
ment of  the  British  Parliament  that  called  for  opposition 
on  the  part  of  the  colonies  was  the  reenactment  of  the 
sugar  act,  and  the  adoption  of  kindred  measures,  which 
seriously  interfered  with  the  trade  of  the  colonies  with  the 
West  Indies. 

Then  came  the  famous  Stamp  Act.  George  Grenville 
had  boasted  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  he  could  pro- 
cure a  revenue  from  America.  He  was  raised  to  the  head 
of  the  treasury,  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  redeem  that 
promise.  In  a  small  room  in  Downing  street,  late  in  Sep- 
tember, 1763,  he  and  Lord  North,  and  another  member  of 
the  treasury  board,  directed  the  first  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury to  "  write  to  the  commissioners  of  the  stamp  duties 
to  prepare  the  draft  of  a  bill  to  be  presented  to  Parliament 
for  extending  the  stamp  duties  to  the  colonies."  It  was 
done,  and  early  in  1764  the  American  assemblies  were 


204  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  32. 

informed  of  the  fact  by  their  respective  agents.  This  intel- 
ligence created  mingled  sentiments  of  alarm,  aversion,  and 
indignation  throughout  the  colonies.  "  Taxation  without 
representation/'  they  said,  "  is  tyranny."  Even  Grenville 
doubted  the  propriety  of  taxing  the  colonies  without  allow- 
ing them  a  representation  in  Parliament  ;  yet,  bolder  than 
all  ministers  before  him,  he  resolved  on  trying  the  experi- 
ment. But  he  made  that  trial  with  caution.  It  was  more 
than  a  year  after  notice  of  the  minister's  intentions  was 
given  that  a  stamp  act  became  law. 

Unalarmed  by  the  gathering  storm  in  America,  the 
King,  in  his  speech  on  the  opening  of  Parliament  early  in 
1765,  recommended  the  carrying  out  of  Grenville's  scheme 
and  the  enforcement  of  obedience  in  the  colonies.  On  the 
22d  of  March  following,  the  King  cheerfully  gave  his  sig- 
nature to  an  act  that  declared  that  no  legal  instrument  of 
writing  should  thereafter  be  valid  in  the  colonies  unless  it 
bore  a  government  stamp,  for  which  specified  sums  should 
be  paid,  from  sixpence  to  two  pounds  sterling.  The  pro- 
tests of  colonial  agents,  the  remonstrances  of  London  mer- 
chants trading  with  America,  and  the  wise  suggestions  of 
men  acquainted  with  the  temper  and  resources  of  the 
Americans,  were  set  at  naught.  The  infatuated  ministry 
openly  avowed  their  intention  "  to  establish  the  power  of 
Great  Britain  to  tax  her  colonies ;"  and  even  the  chimney- 
sweepers of  London,  Pitt  said,  spoke  of  "  our  subjects  in 
America." 

Intelligence  of  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  produced 
intense  excitement  throughout  the  colonies.  Nowhere  did 
the  flame  of  resentment  burn  more  fiercely  than  in  New 
York,  and  nowhere  were  its  manifestations  more  emphatic. 
Golden,  the  acting  governor,  then  seventy-seven  years  of  age, 
was  a  liberal  minded  man,  but,  true  to  his  sovereign,  as  his 


1*765.]       OPPOSITION      TO     THE     STAMP      ACT.        205 

representative  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  discountenance  all  op- 
position to  the  acts  of  the  imperial  legislature.  But  his 
opposition  was  like  a  breath  opposed  to  the  strong  wind. 
Associations  calling  themselves  Sons  of  Liberty  were  organ- 
ized at  various  places  in  the  province,  and  though  not  nu- 
merous at  first,  were  very  active  and  potent  as  centers  of 
opposition.  The  press  spoke  out  without  reserve  through 
its  correspondents.  Although  the  assembly,  when  charged 
with  contemplating  independence,  "  rejected  the  thought," 
the  germ  was  swelling  in  the  people's  hearts.  "  If,"  said  a 
newspaper  writer  at  New  York,  "  the  interests  of  the 
mother  country  and  her  colonies  can  not  be  made  to  coin- 
cide ;  if  the  same  operations  of  the  constitution  may  not 
take  place  in  both  ;  if  the  welfare  of  the  mother  country 
necessarily  requires  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  valuable  rights 
of  the  colonies — the  right  of  making  their  own  laws,  and 
disposing  of  their  own  property  by  representatives  of  their 
own  choosing — if  such  really  is  the  case  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  then  the  connection  between 
them  ought  to  cease,  and  sooner  or  later  it  inevitably  must 
cease." 

The  pulpit,  especially  in  New  England,  denounced  the 
scheme  as  unholy  ;  and  to  the  exhortation  of  the  church- 
man to  loyalty  toward  "  the  Lord's  anointed,"  the  dissenter 
responded,  "  the  people  are  the  '  Lord's  anointed.' "  In 
the  city  of  New  York  a  committee  of  correspondence,  to 
communicate  with  other  Sons  of  Liberty,  was  chosen,  with 
Isaac  Sears,  their  great  leader,  at  the  head,  and  meas- 
ures were  adopted  to  compel  the  appointed  stamp  distrib- 
utor to  resign  his  commission.  In  several  other  places 
popular  excitement  created  mobs,  and  violence  ensued  ; 
stamp  distributors  were  insulted  and  abused,  and  before  the 
first  of  November,  1765,  the  day  on  which  the  act  was  to 


206  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  32. 

go  into  effect,  there  were  no  officers  courageous  enough  to 
attempt  to  execute  its  commands. 

Meanwhile,  pursuant  to  an  invitation  sent  out  to  the 
several  colonial  assemblies  by  that  of  Massachusetts,  a 
convention  of  delegates  met  in  the  city  of  New  York  on 
the  first  Tuesday  in  October,  to  deliberate  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  act.  In  that  congress  nine  colonies  were  repre- 
sented.'*' Kobert  E.  Livingston,  John  Cruger,  Philip  Liv- 
ingston, William  Bayard,  and  Leonard  Lispenard  were 
there  in  behalf  of  New  York.  Timothy  Kuggles,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, who  afterward  proved  disloyal  to  the  principles 
of  popular  liberty,  was  chosen  president  of  the  congress, 
and  John  Cotton  was  appointed  clerk.  The  congress  con- 
tinued in  session  fourteen  days,  and  adopted  a  Declaration 
of  Rights,  written  by  John  Cruger  ;  &  Petition  to  the  King, 
penned  by  Eobert  R.  Livingston,  and  a  Memorial  to  both 
Houses  of  Parliament,  prepared  by  James  Otis.  These 
are  still  regarded  as  model  state  papers.  Only  the  presi- 
dent of  the  congress,  and  Mr.  Ogden,  of  New  Jersey, 
afterward  a  famous  loyalist,  withheld  their  signatures  in 
approval  of  the  proceedings. 

G-eneral  Gage  was  now  commander-in-chief  of  the  Bri- 
tish army  in  America,  and  had  his  headquarters  at  Fort 
George,  in  New  York,  where  a  strong  garrison  was  sta- 
tioned. In  view  of  impending  troubles,  C olden  caused  the 
fort  to  be  strengthened  ;  he  also  replenished  the  magazine. 
These  measures  became  known,  and  increased  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  people.  Their  boldness  also  increased.  In 
defiance  of  the  armed  ships  riding  in  the  harbor,  and  of 


*  Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Connecticut,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina,  The  assemblies  of 
New  Hampshire,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  wrote  that  they 
would  agree  to  whatever  might  be  done  by  the  congress. 


1765.]  THE     COLONISTS     DEFIANT.  207 

the  troops  in  the  garrison,  they  appeared  before  the  fort 
and  demanded  the  delivery  of  the  stamps  deposited  there, 
to  their  appointed  leader.  A  refusal  was  answered  by 
shouts  of  defiance,  and  half  an  hour  afterward  the  lieu- 
tenant governor  was  hung  in  effigy  near  where  the  fountain 
in  the  City  Hall  Park  now  is.  After  that  effigy  was  par- 
aded through  the  streets,  it  was  taken  back  to  the  fort  and 
there  consumed  in  a  bonfire  made  of  the  wooden  fence  that 
surrounded  the  Bowling  Green.  Colden's  coach,  which  the 
mob  had  dragged  from  his  carriage  house,  was  cast  upon 
the  pile,  and  all  were  consumed  together.  Every  effort  of 
the  Sons  of  Liberty  to  restrain  the  mob  from  injuring  pri- 
vate property  was  ineffectual,  and  excesses  were  committed 
disgraceful  alike  to  the  city  and  the  civilization  of  the  day. 
During  this  excitement  the  military  were  prudently  kept 
within  the  fort.  Golden,  alarmed,  ordered  the  stamps  to 
be  delivered  to  the  mayor  and  common  council  of  the  city, 
the  corporation  agreeing  to  pay  for  all  stamps  that  might 
be  destroyed  or  lost. 

In  other  places  the  first  of  November  was  observed  as 
a  day  of  fasting  and  mourning.  Funeral  processions  par- 
aded city  streets,  and  bells  tolled  funeral  knells.  The  flags 
of  vessels  were  placed  at  half-mast,  and  the  newspapers  ex- 
hibited the  broad  black-line  tokens  of  grief.  The  courts 
were  all  closed,  because  no  business  could  be  legally  trans- 
acted without  the  stamps  ;  legal  marriages  ceased ;  ships 
remained  in  port,  and  all  business  was  suspended.  There 
was  a  lull  in  the  storm  that  for  months  had  been  raging  in 
the  colonies. 

The  tempest  was  not  subdued.  It  was  gathering  re- 
newed strength  for  a  more  furious  blast.  It  soon  went 
forth.  The  Sons  of  Liberty  were  more  active  than  ever. 
Mobs  began  to  assail  depositories  of  stamps  and  insult  the 


208  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [j£T.  33. 

custodians.  The  more  moderate  classes  took  milder  but 
effectual  methods  for  demonstrating  their  disapprobation. 
Merchants  formed  non-importation  associations,  and  agreed 
to  refrain  from  all  purchases  of  goods  in  England  until  the 
obnoxious  act  should  be  repealed.  Domestic  manufactures 
were  commenced  in  almost  every  family  ;  in  nearly  every 
household  was  heard  the  hum  of  wheels  and  the  clatter  of 
shuttles.  Rich  men  and  women,  who  commonly  walked  in 
broadcloths  and  brocades,  now  appeared,  on  all  occasions, 
in  homespun  garments.  That  wool  might  not  become 
scarce,  the  use  of  sheep-flesh  for  food  was  discouraged,  and 
in  various  ways  the  colonists  practically  asserted  their  in* 
dependence  of  the  mother  country. 

These  demonstrations  alarmed  the  ministry  and  the 
British  people.  They  were  powerful  protests  against  the 
coercive  measures  of  the  government ;  and  the  sentiments 
of  the  colonists,  embodied  in  the  papers  put  forth  by  the 
congress,  were  respectful  but  firm  words,  spoken  manfully 
in  the  ears  of  the  British  ministry,  demanding  a  retrogres- 
sive policy.  These  were  seconded  by  the  London  merchants, 
whose  trade  was  ruined  ;  and  early  in  January  a  bill  to  re- 
peal the  Stamp  Act  was  introduced  into  Parliament.  On 
the  18th  of  March,  1766,  the  obnoxious  act  was  repealed, 
and  the  joyful  intelligence  thereof  reached  New  York  in 
May  following. 

On  the  repeal  of  the  act,  London  warehouses  were  illu- 
minated and  shipping  in  the  Thames  were  decorated.  In 
America  the  measure  was  celebrated  by  bonfires,  illumina- 
tions, and  other  demonstrations  of  joy.  The  city  of  New 
York  was  filled  with  delight.  Bells  rang  out  merry  peals, 
cannon  roared,  and  placards  every  where  appeared,  calling 
a  meeting  of  the  citizens  to  celebrate  the  event.  Hundreds 
assembled,  and  marching  through  "  the  fields"  to  where  the 


1760.]  PUBLIC     REJOICINGS.  209 

City  Hall  now  stands,  they  fired  a  royal  salute  of  twenty- 
one  guns.  At  Howard's,  where  the  Sons  of  Liberty  feasted, 
an  immense  table  was  spread.  Twenty-eight  "  loyal  and 
constitutional  toasts"  were  drunk  with  delight  ;  the  city 
was  illuminated  in  the  evening,  and  several  bonfires  were 
lighted. 

Again,  on  the  King's  birth-day  (the  4th  of  June),  an- 
other celebration  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  Sir  Henry 
Moore,  the  governor.  The  chief  magistrate,  the  council,  mil- 
itary officers,  and  the  clergy,  dined  at  the  "  King's  Arms," 
near  the  Bowling  Green,  where  General  Gage  resided. 
The  people  had  a  grand  feast  in  "  the  fields."  They  roasted 
an  ox  whole.  Twenty-five  barrels  of  beer  and  a  hogshead 
of  rum  were  opened  for  the  populace  at  the  expense  of  the 
city.  Twenty-five  pieces  of  cannon,  answering  to  the  num- 
ber of  the  King's  years,  ranged  in  a  row  on  the  site  of  the 
present  City  Hall,  thundered  a  royal  salute  ;  and  in  the 
evening  twenty-five  tar  barrels,  hoisted  upon  poles,  were 
burned,  and  gorgeous  fire-works  were  exhibited .  at  the 
Bowling  Green.  The  Sons  of  Liberty  feasted  that  day  at 
Montagnie's,  and  with  the  sanction  of  the  governor  they 
erected  a  mast,  and  placed  upon  it  the  inscription,  "  To 
his  Most  Gracious  Majesty,  George  the  Third,  Mr.  Pitt, 
and  Liberty." 

On  account  of  his  advocacy  of  the  Bepeal  Bill,  the 
Americans  idolized  Pitt.  At  a  meeting  in  New  York,  on 
the  23d  of  June,  the  citizens  present  signed  a  petition 
praying  the  assembly  to  erect  a  statue  in  his  honor.  That 
body  complied,  and  >at  the  same  time  voted  an  equestrian 
statue  to  the  King.  Both  were  set  up  in  1770.  That  of 
Pitt  was  made  of  marble,  and  erected  at  the  intersection 
of  Wall  and  William  streets  ;  that  of  the  King  was  made 
of  lead,  and  placed  in  the  center  of  the  Bowling  Green, 


210  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  33. 

the  head  of  the  horse  and  the  face  of  the  sovereign  "being 
toward  the  west.  Six  years  afterward  the  King's  statne 
was  pulled  down  in  contempt  by  the  people  of  New  York, 
and  a  little  later  that  of  Pitt  was  mutilated  by  the  Bri- 
tish soldiery. 

The  allelujahs  of  popular  joy  were  soon  succeeded  by 
murmurings  of  popular  discontent.  With  the  repeal  of 
the  Stamp  Act  was  connected  a  measure,  originated  by 
Pitt,  called  the  Declaratory  Act,  which  solemnly  affirmed 
that  the  British  Parliament  had  the  right  to  "bind  the 
colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  Sagacious  minds  at  once 
perceived  in  this  declaration  the  egg  of  tyranny  concealed, 
and  while  the  people  were  mad  with  joy  because  of  the  re- 
peal, they  were  solemnly  warned  that  out  of  that  egg  would 
proceed  a  brood  of  oppressive  measures.  The  liberal  press 
of  England  declared  the  same,  and  when  Pitt  pleaded  as 
an  excuse  that  it  was  an  expedient  measure  to  accomplish 
the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  he  was  answered  with  scorn; 
and  he  who  yesterday  rode  on  the  top  wave  of  popularity, 
to-day  was  engulphed  in  popular  distrust. 

The  imperial  government  was  incensed  and  alarmed  by 
the  extravagant  rejoicings  on  account  of  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  instead  of  conciliating  the  colonists  by 
just  measures,  it  was  resolved  to  obtain  their  submission 
by  coercion.  A  large  portion  of  the  House  of  Lords,  the 
whole  bench  of  Bishops,  and  many  of  the  Commons,  were 
favorable  to  strong  measures,  and  the  ministry  were  pre- 
vailed upon  to  mature  other  schemes  for  taxing  the  colo- 
nies. To  preserve  quiet  and  maintain  the  laws,  troops 
were  ordered  to  America,  and  a  Mutiny  Act,  as  it  was 
called,  which  provided  for  the  quartering  of  these  troops 
at  the  partial  expense  of  the  colonists,  whom  they  were  sent 
to  overawe,  was  passed.     Pitt,  who  was  soon  afterward 


1766.]         AN     OBSTINATE     LEGISLATURE.  211 

called  to  the  head  of  the  ministry,  and  was  created  Earl 
of  Chatham,  opposed  the  measure  as  unjust  and  unwise, 
and  thus  he  partially  regained  the  friendship  of  the  Amer- 
icans. 

Early  in  June  Governor  Moore  informed  the  assembly 
that  he  hourly  expected  troops  from  England  as  a  rein- 
forcement for  the  garrison,  and  that  he  desired  that  body 
to  make  immediate  provisions  for  them,  according  to  the 
requirements  of  the  Mutiny  Act.  The  assembly  mur- 
mured, and  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  aroused  by  this  new  phase 
of  oppression,  resolved  in  solemn  conclave  to  resist  the 
measure  to  the  utmost.  The  troops  came.  Mutual  hos- 
tility at  once  appeared  ;  and  a  little  more  than  a  month 
after  the  mast  was  erected  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  with  so 
much  good  feeling  it  was  cut  down  by  the  insolent  sol- 
diery. It  was  reelected  the  next  evening,  dedicated  as 
"  The  Liberty  Pole,"  and  a  flag  was  displayed  from  its 
summit.  Again  it  was  prostrated,  and  between  the  people 
and  the  soldiery  there  was  the  bitterest  animosity. 

The  New  York  assembly  steadily  refused  compliance 
with  the  demands  of  the  Mutiny  Act.  Twice  they  were 
prorogued  by  the  governor.  At  a  session  late  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1766,  he  said,  "  I  am  ordered  to  signify  to  you 
that  it  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  the  King's  subjects  in 
America  to  obey  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. The  King  both  expects  and  requires  a  due  and 
cheerful  obedience  to  the  same.  I  flatter  myself  that,  on  a 
due  consideration,  no  difficulties  can  possibly  arise,  or  the 
least  objection  be  made  to  the  provisions  for  the  troops,  as 
required  by  the  act  of  Parliament." 

The  assembly,  unmoved  by  his  appeal,  replied  that  they 
understood  the  act  to  refer  to  soldiers  "  on  the  march;"  and 
after  referring  to  the  specific  requisitions  of  the  governor. 


212  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  34. 

they  remarked,  "  we  can  not  consent,  with  our  duty  to  our 
constituents,  to  put  it  in  the  power  of  any  person  (what- 
ever confidence  we  may  have  in  his  prudence  and  integrity) 
to  lay  such  burdens  on  them." 

This  determined  action  of  the  assembly  was  followed 
by  an  immediate  prorogation.  But  the  press,  untrammeled 
by  such  official  interferences,  spoke  out  boldly.  "  Courage, 
Americans,"  said  William  Livingston,  in  a  New  York 
paper,  "  liberty,  religion,  and  science  are  on  the  wing  to 
these  shores.  The  finger  of  God  points  out  a  mighty  em- 
pire to  your  sous.  The  savages  of  the  wilderness  were 
never  expelled  to  make  room  for  idolators  and  slaves.  The 
land  we  possess  is  the  gift  of  Heaven  to  our  fathers,  and 
Divine  .Providence  seems  to  have  decreed  it  to  our  latest 
posterity.  The  day  dawns  in  which  the  foundation  of  this 
mighty  empire  is  to  be  laid,  by  the  establishment  of  a  reg- 
ular American  constitution.  All  that  has  hitherto  been 
done  seems  to  be  little  beside  the  collection  of  materials  for 
this  glorious  fabric.  'T  is  time  to  put  them  together.  The 
transfer  of  the  European  family  is  so  vast,  and  our  growth 
so  swift,  that  before  seven  years  roll  over  our  heads  the 
first  stone  must  be  laid."  How  wonderfully  prophetic  ! 
Seven  years  from  that  time  the  first  Continental  Congress 
assembled  in  Philadelphia. 

The  ministry  were  amazed  at  the  rebellious  conduct  of 
the  Americans,  and  especially  of  the  New  York  assembly, 
and  resolved  to  bring  that  refractory  legislature  into  hum- 
ble obedience.  They  determined  not  to  recede  a  single  line 
from  their  claim  to  the  right  of  taxing  the  colonies,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1767  Charles  Townshend,  Pitt's  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  coalesced  with  Grenville,  while  Pitt  was 
absent  on  account  of  the  gout,  and  presented  new  taxation 
schemes  for  the  consideration  of  Parliament.     In  June  a 


HC?.]  OPPRESSION     AND     UNION.  213 

bill  passed  that  body  for  levying  duties  upo.:  tea,  glass, 
paper,  painters'  colors,  et  cetera,  imported  into  the  colo- 
nies, with  the  avowed  object  of  drawing  a  revenue  from 
the  Americans.  Another  was  soon  afterward  passed  for  es- 
tablishing a  Board  of  Trade  or  Commissioners  of  Customs 
in  the  colonies,  to  be  independent  of  colonial  legislation, 
and  having  general  powers  of  search  and  seizure  similar  to 
those  in  England,  the  salaries  of  the  commissioners  to  be 
paid  out  of  their  own  collections.  This  was  ^oon  followed 
by  another,  which  suspended  the  functions  of  the  New 
York  assembly — forbidding  them  to  perform  any  legislative 
act  whatsoever  until  they  should  comply  with  the  requisi- 
tions of  the  Mutiny  Act  concerning  the  billeting  ^f  troops. 
These  acts  were  framed  and  passed  with  the  erroneous  im- 
pression that  the  colonists  objected  rather  to  the  mode  than 
to  the  right  of  taxation. 

These  acts  caused  a  closer  union  of  sentiment  through- 
out the  colonies,  and  the  leading  men  every  where  took  the 
ground  occupied  by  Otis  in  1761,  that  taxes  on  trade,  if 
designed  to  raise  a  revenue,  were  just  as  much  a  violation 
of  their  rights  as  any  other  tax.  The  twenty-five  or  thirty 
colonial  newspapers  began  to  teem  with  essays  on  colonial 
rights  ;  and  on  the  3d  of  December,  1767,  appeared  the 
first  of  the  able  series  of  "  Letters  from  a  Farmer  in  Penn- 
sylvania to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  British  Colonies,"  written 
by  John  Dickinson,  of  Philadelphia,  which  was  designed 
to  show  the  danger  of  allowing  any  precedent  of  Parlia- 
mentary taxation  to  be  established  upon  any  ground  or  to 
any  extent.  These  letters  brought  Dr.  Franklin,  then  col- 
onial agent  in  London,-  to  the  same  way  of  thinking,  (for 
he  had  been  disposed  to  make  a  distinction  between  inter- 
nal and  external  taxation,)  and  he  caused  an  edition  of 
them  to  be  published  in  England. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

During  the  period  of  intense  excitement  in  the  colo- 
nies which  we  have  been  considering,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  an 
active  but  conservative  politician.  He  espoused  the  cause 
of  his  countrymen  at  the  beginning  of  the  dispute,  with  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  but 
his  judgment,  his  love  of  order,  and  his  social  position, 
made  him  cautious  and  conciliating  until  the  time  arrived 
for  radical  and  decisive  action. 

Business  called  him  frequently  to  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  there  he  mingled  freely  with  men  of  every  de- 
gree. His  social  qualities,  his  strict  integrity,  his  enlight- 
ened and  liberal  views  upon  all  subjects  which  challenged 
his  attention,  made  him  a  welcome  guest  in  every  family. 
He  was  intimate  with  Sir  Henry  Moore,  the  governor,  and 
their  families  visited  each  other.  Dr.  Johnson,  of  Kings' 
College,  loved  him  for  his  sterling  virtues,  and  politicians 
of  every  kind  considered  his  friendship  a  favor  and  honor. 

As  the  attorney  of  Colonel  Bradstreet,  we  find  Mr. 
Schuyler  in  New  York  in  March,  1766,  conferring  with 
General  Gage,  at  Fort  George,  and  receiving  for  his  prin- 
cipal between  seven  and  eight  thousand  dollars,  due  him 
for  monies  advanced  to  persons  who  had  supplied  the  In- 
dians with  various  articles  during  that  officer's  expedition 
to  Detroit,  in  1764.  We  also  find  him,  as  revealed  by  his 
correspondence,  an  adviser  and  mediator  in  family  feuds 


1766.]  SONS     OF     LIBERTY     FEASTING.  215 

among  his  friends  ;  a  guardian  and  protector  of  the  weak 
and  wayward  of  his  kindred  ;  and  as  a  valued  counselor  of 
those  who  were  involved  in  serious  or  delicate  troubles.  At 
the  time  when  he  was  in  New  York,  in  communication 
with  General  Gage,  and  a  guest  of  the  governor,  we  find 
him  the  confidential  adviser  of  the  afterward  eminent  Peter 
Van  Shaack,  who,  while  a  student  in  college,  privately 
married  a  daughter  of  the  opulent  Henry  Cruger.  Her 
angry  father  refused  to  sanction  the  marriage,  and  kept 
them  apart.  In  the  midst  of  his  sorrow,  a  letter  from 
Schuyler,  then  in  New  York,  appears  to  have  affected  him 
most  salutarily.  "  The  approbation  of  good  men,"  said 
the  sufferer,  "is  a  powerful  incentive  to  virtue.  You 
have  exactly  expressed  the  sentiments  of  my  heart.  How- 
ever happy  her  presence  would  make  me,  without  her 
affections  I  would  not  wish  to  have  her  person,  or  to 
assert  my  legal  right  to  it  on  conditions  that  will  ever 
be  but  secondary  to  me."  The  father  soon  became  recon- 
ciled. 

Mr.  Schuyler  appears  not  to  have  been  an  enrolled 
member  of  the  association  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  at  Al- 
bany, yet  he  affiliated  with  Jeremiah  Van  Kensselaer, 
Abraham  Tenbroeck,  Jelles  Fonda,  Myndert  Rosenboom, 
Robert  Henry,  Volkert  P.  Douw,  Thomas  Young,  and 
other  active  members  in  his  native  city  and  the  Mohawk 
valley,  in  their  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act.  He  was  in 
New  York  in  the  beginning  of  May,  1766,  when  the  joyful 
news  was  brought  by  Major  James  (who  came  passenger  in 
the  Hynde,  from  Plymouth,)  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  and  he  feasted  with  the  Sons  of  Liberty  at  Howard's, 
where  "twenty-eight  loyal  and  constitutional  toasts  were 
drank."  Twenty-four  of  these  were  personal  and  the  re- 
mainder were  exceedingly  loyal,  such  as  "The  King" — - 


216  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  33. 

"The  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  royal  family" — "  Sir  Henry 
Moore  and  the  land  we  live  in" — and  "  Perpetual  union  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  her  colonies."  Before  the  dinner 
he  went  with  a  large  number  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  who, 
on  the  invitation  of  the  rector,  repaired  to  Trinity  Church 
to  hear  a  congratulatory  discourse  on  the  occasion.  On  the 
following  day  a  convention  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  was 
held  at  the  same  place,  and  Dr.  Auchmuty,  after  sermon, 
greeted  them  with  a  congratulatory  speech  suitable  to  the 
occasion. 

Sir  Henry  Moore  was  a  gay,  affable,  good-natured,  well- 
bred  gentleman,  and  courteous  in  the  highest  degree.  He 
was  very  popular  and  fond  of  company,  and  he  and  his 
family  spent  much  time  with  the  leading  inhabitants  of 
New  York  and  its  vicinity,  and  higher  up  the  Hudson,  in 
social  enjoyments.  The  governor  made  frequent  visits  to 
Albany,  and  was  always  the  guest  of  Mr.  ami  Mrs.  Schuy- 
ler. Their  spacious  and  beautiful  mansion  had  been  re- 
cently erected  within  the  southern  suburbs  of  Albany  (yet 
standing  at  the  head  of  Schuyler  street),  and  there  they 
had  just  commenced  the  dispensing  of  that  generous  hos- 
pitality which  continued  for  almost  forty  years.  They  then 
had  five  living  children  ;  and  Colonel  Bradstreet,  who  was 
separated  from  his  wife,  (the  widow  of  his  cousin,  Sir  Simon 
Bradstreet,  of  Dublin,)  was  an  inmate  of  the  family. 

Sir  Henry  and  his  family  visited  Albany  in  the  summer 
of  1766,  and  at  that  time  Mr.  Schuyler  and  the  governor 
rode  up  the  Mohawk  valley,  on  horseback,  to  the  baronial 
residence  of  Sir  William  Johnson  (now  Johnstown)  and 
consummated  a  joint  purchase  of  lands  from  the  Indians 
in  that  wild  region.  The  governor  and  his  family  were 
there  again  in  October,  and  in  December  Mr.  Schuyler  and 
his  family  were  the  guests  of  the  governor  at  the  province 


1767.]  MILITARY     APPOINTMENTS.  217 

house,  in  the  fort  at  New  York,  where  they  left  their 
daughter  for  a  visit  of  several  weeks.  At  that  time  ar- 
rangements were  made  for  securing  some  Mohawk  lands 
for  Sir  Henry's  friend,  Lord  Holland,  (father  of  Charles 
James  Fox,)  and  for  the  purchase  of  other  lands  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Fort  Stanwix.  These  land  transactions 
and  social  re-unions  continued  during  the  whole  administra- 
tion of  Sir  Henry,  which  was  ended  hy  his  death  in  Sep- 
tember, 1769,  when  only  fifty-six  years  of  age. 

In  1767  Mr.  Schuyler  appears  to  have  been  connected 
with  the  commissary  department.  In  March  the  governor 
consults  him,  by  letter,  concerning  the  regiment  of  Colonel 
Mann,  stationed  at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  and  also  as 
to  the  appointment  of  commanders  of  other  militia  regi- 
ments, whose  officers  were  about  to  resign  on  account  of 
age,  in  which  he  says,  "  Believe  me  when  I  assure  you  that 
the  persons  proposed  to  succeed  them  could  not  have  a  bet- 
ter recommendation  than  Colonel  Bradstreet's  and  yours." 
Among  those  recommended  was  Philip  Skene,  afterward 
made  famous  by  his  connection  with  affairs  at  Skenes- 
borough,  or  Whitehall,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

A  little  later,  we  find  Colonel  Mann,  who  was  assistant 
commissary,  complaining  to  Mr.  Schuyler  of  a  lack  of  pro- 
visions for  the  garrison  at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  and 
requesting  him  to  send  some  up  immediately. 

In  May,  William  Smith,  who  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  colonists,  but  who,  when  the  final  struggle  began, 
drew  back  and  became  an  active  tory,  wrote  to  Schuyler 
respecting  Townshend's  tax  measures,  and  said,  "  When 
will  these  confusions  end  !  What  a  disjointed  empire  is 
this  !  I  am  afraid  it  is  too  complex  for  so  vast  an  extent. 
At  all  events  America  must  rise.     The  prosperity  and  ad- 

10 


218  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  34. 

versify  of  Britain  both  conduce  to  our  growth.     Would  to 
God  we  had  a  little  more  government  here  !" 

At  about  this  time,  Mr.  Schuyler,  pursuant  to  the  di- 
rections of  the  governor,  was  active  in  the  formation  of  a 
militia  regiment,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the  commander. 
In  August  following  he  received  his  commission,  dated  the 
20th,  in  which  his  district  is  denned  as  being  bounded  "on 
the  south  by  the  north  line  of  the  manor  of  Rensselaer- 
wyck  ;  on  the  north  by  Batten  Kill  or  Creek,  and  the  north 
bounds  of  Saratoga  ;  on  the  east  by  the  county  of  Cumber- 
land and  the  townships  laid  out  on  the  same  north  and 
south  range  or  line,  and  on  the  west  by  the  east  bounds  of 
Schenectada."  This  comprised  large  portions  of  the  pre- 
sent counties  of  Saratoga,  Rensselaer,  and  Washington. 
From  that  time  until  the  kindling  of  the  Revolution  he 
was  known  as  Colonel  Schuyler,  and  held  the  office  to 
which  he  was  appointed  by  Sir  Henry  Moore. 

In  the  autumn  of  1767,  the  commissioners  of  New  York 
and  Massachusetts  Bay,  appointed  to  fix  the  boundary  line 
between  the  two  provinces,  pursuant  to  acts  in  1764,  met 
in  conference  at  New  Haven,  in  Connecticut.  William 
Nicoll,  Robert  R.  Livingston,  and  William  Smith  were 
now  the  commissioners  for  New  York,  and  Governor 
Hutchinson,  William  Brattle,  and  Edward  Sheafe  were 
the  commissioners  for  Massachusetts.  Colonel  Schuyler, 
as  an  early  commissioner,  had  taken  great  interest  in  the 
controversy,  as  we  have  seen,  and  had  been  very  useful  to 
the  new  board  from  his  own  province.  He  had  laid  before 
them  all  the  mathematical  plans  and  calculations  which  he 
had  made  for  his  private  use,  and  the  field-notes  he  had 
taken  when  personally  engaged  in  the  matter.  Mr.  Smith, 
in  particular,  was  under  great  obligation  to  him,  and  on  his 
return  from  the  conference,  toward  the  middle  of  October, 


17G7.J  INDUSTRIAL     PURSUITS.  219 

he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Colonel  Schuyler,  detailing  the 
proceedings  in  a  concise  and  perspicuous  manner.  "  I 
brought  a  sore  throat  home  with  me,"  he  said,  "and  that 
prevents  me  from  seeing  Sir  Henry.  I  wish  to  know  your 
sentiments  soon,  as  a  guide  to  me  in  what  may  be  proper 
to  recommend  to  him." 

Colonel  Schuyler  had  now  erected  a  pleasant  country 
mansion  on  the  bank  of  the  Fish  Creek,  at  Saratoga,  a 
short  distance  from  the  site  of  the  one  burned  by  the 
French  and  Indians  in  1745,  when  his  kinsman  was  mur- 
dered ;  and  he  had  also  enlarged  and  improved  his  mills 
there.  For  some  time  he  had  paid  much  attention  to  the 
cultivation  of  flax  and  hemp.  In  a  letter  to  Professor 
Brand,  of  London,  as  early  as  1763,  he  had  urged  the  pro- 
priety of  encouraging  the  culture  of  the  latter  in  the  colo- 
nies as  a  matter  of  national  concern.  That  gentleman,  in 
reply,  said,  "  your  observations  about  hemp  are  very  just, 
and  apply  also  to  iron,  which,  if  the  colonies  had  been  en- 
couraged to  have  supplied  us  with,  and  which  they  could 
have  done,  we  need  not  have  regarded  Russia,  upon  whom 
we  depended  for  our  naval  stores  of  hemp  and  iron  during 
the  war."  Professor  Brand  adds,  "  In  my  next  I  hope  to 
send  you  an  account  of  a  machine  for  pulling  up  trees  by 
the  roots,  and  expeditiously,  which  has  been  tried  and  suc- 
ceeds.    It  comes  from  Switzerland." 

Among  other  improvements  at  Saratoga,  Colonel  Schuy- 
ler erected  a  flax  mill  in  the  year  1767,  the  first  of  the  kind 
in  the  American  colonies.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Arts,  of  which  he  was  a  prominent  member, 
held  in  New  York  near  the  close  of  that  year,  he  laid  before 
them  a  statement  concerning  his  mill,  and  a  calculation  of 
the  difference  of  the  work  done  by  it  and  by  the  hand. 
The  society,  considering  his  enterprise  of  great  public  im- 


220  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  f^T.  34 

portance,  decreed  that  a  medal  should  be  given  to  him,  and 
voted  him  their  "  thanks  for  executing  so  useful  a  design 
in  the  province."  At  the  same  meeting  a  proposition  for 
"  setting  up  the  business  of  silk  throwing  was  read,  but 
judged  improper,  at  least  at  present,  for  the  colony." 

The  time  was  now  at  hand  when  the  assembly  would 
expire  by  its  septennial  limitation.  Writs  for  a  new  elec- 
tion were  issued,  and  in  the  newspapers,  in  caucuses  of 
politicians,  in  hand-bills,  and  in  public  assemblies  much 
was  said  in  opposition  to  the  system  of  open  voting  that 
then  prevailed,  and  the  preponderance  of  lawyers  in  the 
Legislature.  Much  complaint  was  also  made  of  the  prac- 
tice of  self-nomination — "  stump  candidates,"  as  they  are 
now  called  in  the  western  States — and  their  solicitation  of 
votes.  Squibs  like  the  following  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers, and  indicated  a  strong  feature  in  public  sentiment: 

"A  Card. — Jack  Bowline  and  Tom  Hatchway  send  their  Services 
(damn  Compliments,)  to  the  Freeholders  and  Freemen  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  beg  they  would,  in  order  to  try  how  the  L?md  lies,  take 
an  Observation,  and  they  will  find :  First,  That  the  good  People  of  this 
city  are  supported  by  Trade  and  the  Merchants.  Second.  That  the  Law- 
yers are  supported  by  the  People. 

"  Ship  Defiance,  February  20,  1768." 

Reply. — "  A  Card  :  Mr.  Axe  and  Mr.  Hammer,  being  selected  by  a 
number  of  their  brother  Freeholders  and  Freemen  of  the  city  of  New 
York  to  return  their  hearty  thanks  to  their  good  friends  Mr.  Hatchway 
and  Mr.  Bowline,  have  consented,  and  think  proper  to  do  it  in  this  Pub- 
lic Manner,  and  to  assure  them  that  the  "  Leather  Aprons"  (a  very  re- 
spectable body)  are  clearly  of  the  Opinion  that  it  is  Trade,  and  not  Law, 
that  supports  our  Families.  And  honest  Jack  Jolt,  the  Cartman,  says 
he  never  got  Sixpence  for  riding  Law-Books,  though  he  gets  many 
Pounds  from  the  Merchants.  So,  with  many  thanks  for  your  sensible, 
good  Card,  we  say  as  you  say,  '  No  Lawyers  to  the  Assembly.' 

"  Tradesmen's  Hall,  February  29,  1768." 

At  the  close  of  1767,  Colonel  Schuyler  was  requested 
to  represent  his  native  city  and  county  in  the  colonial 


1768  ]  A     BUDDING     STATESMAN.  2*21 

assembly.  A  seat  in  that  body,  says  Chancellor  Kent, 
"  was  very  important,  and  an  evidence  of  character  as  well 
as  of  influence,  inasmuch  as  the  members  were  few  and 
chosen  exclusively  by  freeholders,  and  held  their  seats  for 
seven  years." 

Colonel  Schuyler  at  first  hesitated,  chiefly  because  his 
private  affairs  demanded  his  whole  attention.  But  his 
warmest  friends  urged  him  to  accept  the  nomination.  They 
knew  the  weight  that  his  unexceptionable  character,  his 
extensive  connections,  and  his  deserved  popularity  would 
have  in  the  councils  of  the  state  at  that  critical  moment, 
when  the  tempest  clouds  of  revolution  were  hovering  in  the 
political  sky.  "Let  me  persuade  you,"  wrote  William 
Smith,  then  a  member  of  the  assembly,  at  the  middle  of 
January,  1768,  "  not  to  refuse  your  services  to  your  coun- 
try— one  session,  if  no  more.  After  seven  years  we  shall 
both  abandon  to  ease.  I  will  promise  to  leave  you  in  full 
possession  of  your  wolves,  foxes,  snow,  (a  small  sailing  ves- 
sel), mills,  fish,  and  lands  at  Saraghtogue,  and  give  no  dis- 
turbance while  the  remaining  sands  run  out."  Alas  !  at 
the  end  of  seven  years  Colonel  Schuyler  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  most  stormy  career  of  political  life,  and  about  to  enter 
upon  military  duties  of  the  most  arduous  and  responsible 
kind  ;  while  his  friend,  an  apologist  for  the  crown  and  a 
practical  enemy  to  republicanism  in  America,  was  his  fierce 
political  antagonist,  preparing  himself,  by  acts  of  opposi- 
tion to  the  popular  will,  for  exile  in  Canada. 

Colonel  Schuyler  accepted  the  nomination,  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  people.  "Having  been  yesterday  in- 
formed of  your  being  unanimously  requested  to  serve  as 
member  of  the  assembly  for  the  city  and  county,  by  the 
principal  people  of  Albany,  and  of  your  acquiescence 
thereto,"  wrote   Sir  William   Johnson,   from  "Johnson 


222  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  S5. 

Hall,"  on  the  29th  of  February,  "I  have  only  to  con- 
gratulate you  thereupon,  and  to  assure  you  of  my  appro- 
bation of  their  choice,  and  that  I  am,  sir,  your  well  wisher, 
etc."  Little  did  Sir  William  think  that,  a  few  years  later, 
this  budding  statesman  would  be  the  virtual  controller  of 
the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  baronet's  family. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1768,  Colonel  Schuyler  and  Jacob 
H.  Teneyck  were  elected  representatives  of  the  city  and 
county  of  Albany.  The  certificate  of  this  election,  signed 
by  Harmanus  Schuyler,  high  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  six 
others,  is  dated  the  same  day. 

Colonel  Schuyler,  expecting  soon  to  be  called  to  New 
York  to  attend  to  his  duties  as  a  legislator,  made  prepara- 
tions for  the  accommodation  of  himself  and  family  there. 
A  kinswoman,  to  whom  he  wrote  on  the  subject  of  a 
boarding  place  for  his  children,  replied  that  a  widow  in 
Hanover  Square  was  "  willing  to  take  two  of  them,  at  fifty 
pounds  a  year,  two  pounds  of  tea  and  one  loaf  of  sugar 
each,  their  stockings  and  clothes  mended  ;  but  new  work 
must  be  paid  for  making."  But  he  was  soon  relieved  from 
suspense,  by  a  letter  from  Sir  Henry  Moore,  at  the  middle 
of  March,  who  wrote  :  "  I  have  already  mentioned  to  the 
gentlemen  of  the  council  that  I  do  not  think  the  assembly 
should  meet  on  the  return  of  the  writs,  as  I  have  no  par- 
ticular business  to  lay  before  them,  and  their  meeting  will 
be  put  off  by  proclamation,  so  that  I  hope  you  will  not 
have  your  plans  broken  in  upon,  and  your  own  private 
business  interrupted." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  previous  year,  Colonel  Schuy- 
ler had  entertained  some  strange  guests  at  his  mansion. 
These  were  the  famous  Attakullakulla,  or  the  "Little  Car- 
penter," principal  chief  of  the  Cherokee  nation  of  Indians, 
and  eight  subordinate  chiefs  and  warriors,  who  arrived  in 


1768  ]  THE     NEW     YORK     ASSEMBLY.  223 

New  York  in  December,  with  Captain  Schemerhc-rn  and 
an  interpreter.  They  were  on  their  way  to  visit  Sir  Wil- 
liam Johnson,  to  seek  his  mediation  for  the  conclusion  of 
a  peace  between  the  Cherokees  and  the  Six  Nations.  Gen- 
eral Gage  took  an  interest  in  the  embassy,  and  on  the  15th 
of  December  sent  them  in  a  sloop  to  Albany,  where,  at  his 
request,  they  were  received  by  Colonel  Schuyler  and  for- 
warded to  Sir  William.  They  attempted  to  ascend  the 
Mohawk  in  batteaus,  but  the  frost  closed  it,  and  they 
made  their  way  on  horseback,  suffering  much  from  the  in- 
clemency of  the  weather,  so  seldom  felt  in  their  southern 
homes.  Colonel  Schuyler  and  two  or  three  others  accom- 
panied them  as  far  as  Fort  Johnson,  and  then  dispatched 
a  guide  to  lead  them  the  remainder  of  the  journey.  The 
embassy  was  successful,  and  the  embassadors  returned  to 
New  York  at  the  close  of  March. 

The  new  assembly,  of  which  Colonel  Schuyler  was  a 
member,  did  not  meet  until  the  27th  of  October,  1768. 
Philip  Livingston,  of  New  York  city,  was  Speaker,  and  the 
Legislature  was  composed  of  some  of  the  most  noted  men 
of  the  province.*  Colonel  Schuyler  was  then  thirty-five 
years  of  age.  Although  he  was  among  the  youngest  mem- 
bers of  that  body,  and  had  never  had  an  hour's  experience 

*  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  members  of  the  New  York  assem- 
bly when  Colonel  Schuyler  first  entered  it : 

New  York  City — Philip  Livingston,  James  De  Lancey,  Jacob  Walton, 
James  Jauncey,  Isaac  Low,  John  Cruger,  John  Alsop.  Albany  City  and 
County — Jacob  H.  Teneyck,  Philip  Schuyler.  Kings  County — Simon  Boerum, 
John  Rapelye.  Queens  County — Zebulon  Seaman,  Daniel  Kissam.  Suffolk 
County — William  Nicoll,  Eleazer  Miller.  Richmond  County — Henry  Holland, 
Benjamin  Seaman.  Westchester  County — John  Thomas,  Frederick  Philipse. 
Borough  of  West  Chester — John  De  Lancey.  Duchess  County — Leonard  "Van 
Xleeck,  Dirck  Brinckerhoff.  Ulster  County — Charles  Dewitt,  George  Clinton. 
Orange  County — Henry  Wisner,  Selah  Strong.  Manor  of  Rensselaerwyck — 
Abraham  Tenbroeck.  Manor  of  Livingston — Peter  R.  Livingston.  Manor 
of  Cortlandt — Pierre  Yan  Courtlandt. 


224  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  35. 

in  a  deliberative  assembly,  be  at  once  took  an  honorable, 
conspicuous,  and  influential  position  as  a  legislator,  and 
particularly  as  a  member  of  special  committees.  Prompt 
in  action,  extremely  methodical,  tireless  in  labor,  deter- 
mined in  purpose,  candid,  fearless,  and  perfectly  reliable, 
he  challenged  and  received  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
the  whole  House,  and  the  approval  of  his  constituents  and 
of  the  people  at  large. 

Colonel  Schuyler  entered  upon  life  as  a  legislator  at  a 
most  remarkable  and  important  period  in  the  history  of  his 
country.  The  people  in  all  the  provinces  were  intensely 
excited  by  current  political  events.  They  stood  firm  upon 
the  rock  of  truth — the  great  principles  of  justice  between 
man  and  man — and  with  a  full  consciousness  of  integrity, 
and  firm  reliance  upon  the  Divine  Protector,  they  had  ut- 
tered the  voice  of  remonstrance  so  vehemently,  and  raised 
the  arm  of  resistance  so  defiantly,  that  the  ire  of  the  home 
government  had  become  hot  and  implacable.  Massachu- 
setts had  sent  forth,  in  the  name  of  the  Speaker  of  the 
assembly,  a  Circular  Letter  to  all  its  sister  provinces, 
embodying  in  it  the  sentiments  expressed  in  a  petition 
previously  addressed  to  the  King,  in  which  the  state 
of  the  colony  was  considered  in  bold  words,  and  the  co- 
operation of  all  other  colonies  was  solicited.  It  was  a  cry 
for  union  against  an  oppressor,  and  nobly  was  that  cry  re- 
sponded to. 

The  court  and  the  ministry  were  alarmed  and  incensed 
at  the  rebellious  acts  of  Massachusetts,  and  at  once  deter- 
mined to  send  fleets  and  armies  to  bring  them  into  submis- 
sion if  necessary.  They  considered  the  Circular  Letter  an 
incentive  to  rebellion,  and  acted  promptly  on  this  opinion. 
Lord  Hillsborough  immediately  sent  a  copy  of  it,  with  a 
letter,  to  all  of  the  colonial  governors,  directing  them  to 


1763.]  MASSACHUSETTS     DEFIANT.  225 

exert  their  utmost  influence  upon  their  respective  assem- 
blies "  to  take  no  notice  of  it,  which/'  he  said,  "  will  be 
treating  it  with  the  contempt  it  deserves.  If  they  give 
any  countenance  to  this  seditious  paper/'  he  continued, 
"  it  will  be  your  duty  to  prevent  any  proceedings  upon  it 
by  an  immediate  prorogation  or  dissolution."  To  Governor 
Bernard,  of  Massachusetts,  he  said,  "  You  will,  therefore, 
require  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  in  his  Majesty's 
name,  to  rescind  the  resolution  which  gave  birth  to  the 
Circular  Letter  from  the  Speaker,  and  to  declare  their  dis- 
approbation of  that  rash  and  hasty  proceeding." 

The  Massachusetts  assembly,  consisting  of  one  hundred 
and  nine  members — the  largest  legislature  in  America — 
were  not  easily  frightened  by  ministerial  frowns.  They 
had  counted  the  cost  of  opposition  to  unrighteous  demands, 
and  were  prepared  to  assert  their  rights.  Instead  of  com- 
plying with  the  governor's  requisition,  they  made  that  very 
demand  a  fresh  cause  of  complaint.  Samuel  Adams,  that 
staunch  old  Puritan,  whom  no  gold  could  bribe  nor  place 
propitiate,  made,  on  that  occasion,  as  the  creatures  of  the 
crown  said,  "  the  most  violent,  insolent,  abusive,  and  trea- 
sonable declarations  that  perhaps  ever  were  delivered." 
The  fiery  Otis,  full  of  the  spirit  that  animated  him  more 
than  six  years  before,  also  denounced  the  measure  with 
bitterest  scorn.  "  When  Lord  Hillsborough  knows,"  ho 
said,  "  that  we  will  not  rescind  our  acts,  he  should  apply 
to  Parliament  to  rescind  theirs.  Let  Britons  rescind  these 
measures  or  they  are  lost  forever."  In  this  strain  he  ha- 
rangued the  house  for  an  hour,  until  even  the  most  zealous 
Sons  of  Liberty  trembled  with  the  fear  that  he  would  tread 
upon  the  domains  of  treason. 

The  assembly  refused  to  rescind  by  an  overwhelming 
majority — ninety-two  to  seventeen.     They  sent  a  letter  to 

10*  . 


226  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^t.  35 

the  governor,  informing  him  of  their  action,  in  which  they 
said,  "  If  the  votes  of  this  House  are  to  be  controlled  by 
the  directions  of  a  minister,  we  have  left  us  but  a  vain 
semblance  of  liberty/'  The  governor,  greatly  irritated, 
proceeded  to  dissolve  them,  but  before  that  act  was  con- 
summated they  had  prepared  a  list  of  accusations  against 
him,  and  a  petition  to  the  King  for  his  recall. 

Thus  Great  Britain,  through  her  representative,  struck 
the  first  blow  against  free  discussion  in  America.  The 
Secretary  of  State,  speaking  for  the  King,  offered  to  Mas- 
sachusetts the  alternative  of  submitting  to  his  mandate  or 
forfeiting  its  representative  government.  In  that  ordeal 
she  acted  bravely,  and  she  was  sustained  by  the  warm  sym- 
pathy of  her  sister  colonies,  for  whom  like  treatment,  on 
slight  provocation,  was  doubtless  in  reserve. 

New  York  stood  up  manfully  in  defense  of  the  right 
of  free  discussion,  and  when,  on  the  14th  of  November, 
1768,  Governor  Moore  transmitted  Lord  Hillsborough's  in- 
instructions  against  holding  seditious  correspondence  with 
other  colonies,  and  called  upon  the  Legislature  to  yield 
obedience,  they  boldly  remonstrated  against  ministerial  in- 
terference with  their  inalienable  privileges.  The  House 
refused  obedience.  The  governor  threatened  to  dissolve 
them.  The  foremost  leaders  of  the  people  sustained  their 
representatives,  and  in  newspapers  and  in  hand-bills  they 
expressed  their  sentiments  freely.  "  Let  these  truths,"  they 
said,  "  be  indelibly  impressed  upon  our  minds,  that  we  can 
not  he  free  without  being  secure  in  our  property;  that  we 
can  not  be  secure  in  our  property,  if,  without  our  consent, 
others  may,  as  by  right,  take  it  away ;  that  taxes  im- 
posed by  Parliament  do  thus  take  it  away ;  that  duties, 
laid  for  the  sole  purpose  of  raising  money,  are  taxes;  that 


1168.]  POLITICAL     FINESSE.  227 

attempts  to  lay  such  should  be  instantly  and  firmly  op- 
posed/'* 

In  the  movements  in  the  assembly  concerning  the 
Massachusetts  Circular  Colonel  Schuyler  was  conspicuous. 
The  New  York  city  members,  at  their  own  request,  were 
instructed  by  their  constituents  to  have  the  Circular  read 
in  the  asssembly.  Possessed  with  these  instructions,  says 
a  writer  of  the  day,  the  city  members  used  them  for  selfish 
purposes.  They  felt  sure  that  the  assembly  would  be  dis- 
solved if  the  Circular  should  be  read,  and  from  time  to 
time,  before  the  business  of  the  session  was  concluded,  they 
would  threaten  to  make  a  motion  to  read. 


"  The  design  of  this  finesse,"  says  the  writer  alluded  to,  "  was  to 
feel  the  pulse  of  the  House,  in  order  if  a  majority  appeared  against 
the  measure,  they  would  then  make  the  motion,  and  monopolize  the 
credit  of  it  to  themselves  with  their  constituents  and  the  continent ;  at 
the  same  time  their  seats  would  be  secure,  as  there  would  be  no  disso- 
lution. This  being  done  repeatedly,  many  of  the  members  saw  through 
the  artifice,  which  greatly  incensed  them,  upon  which  Colonel  Schuyler, 
a  gentleman  of  great  independency  of  spirit,  and  a  true  Son  of  Liberty, 
being  unable  any  longer  to  bear  the  duplicity  of  those  political  hypo- 
crites, got  up  and  observed  to  the  House  that  he  was  as  determined  to 
read  the  Circular  Letter,  and  make  resolutions  asserting  the  rights  of 
the  people  of  the  colony,  as  any  gentleman  in  the  House,  but  that  he 
conceived  it  most  eligible  to  go  through  the  business  of  the  session,  that 
the  colony  might  not  suffer  for  the  want  of  the  necessary  and  annual 
laws,  before  they  came  into  the  resolutions,  which  would  as  well  serve 
the  cause  of  liberty  as  if  they  were  made  at  the  expense  of  the  loss  of 
those  laws.  But  if  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  House  that  the  resolutions 
with  which  they  had  been  so  often  threatened  by  those  gentlemen  should 
be  made  before  the  business  of  the  session  was  gone  through,  as  in  that 
case  they  would  immediately  be  dissolved,  he  thought,  in  justice  to 
themselves  and  their  constituents,  to  save  the  time  of  the  former  and 
the  money  of  the  latter,  they  should  come  into  them  immediately,"  and 
therefore  made  a  motion  for  that  purpose. 

"  Our  corrupt  politicians  found  themselves  counteracted,  and  the  ar- 
guments of  the  Colonel  would  work  against  them  with  the  judicious  if 

*  Leake's  Life  and  Times  of  General  John  Lamb,  p.  43. 


228  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  35. 

they  should  persist  in  their  former  threats,  and  the  other  members  of 
the  House  being  fully  in  opinion  with  him  for  deferring  the  resolutions 
until  the  business  was  finished,  prevailed  on  him  to  withdraw  his  mo- 
tion, which  he  accordingly  did  ;  so  the  matter  was  put  off  for  that  time. 
To  prevent  any  member  getting  the  credit  of  it,  the  House  some  time 
afterward  made  an  order  to  take  it  up  and  go  into  it."* 

Troops,  at  this  time,  had  been  gathered  in  Boston,  to 
overawe  the  people  and  enforce  obedience.  General  G-age 
had  been  requested  by  Governor  Bernard  to  act  upon  his 
secret  instructions  from  Lord  Hillsborough,  and  order  some 
soldiers  from  Halifax.  He  did  so.  Meanwhile  the  gover- 
nor had  refused  to  order  the  election  of  a  new  assembly, 
and  the  people  of  Massachusetts  took  the  matter  into  their 
own  hands  and  called  a  provincial  convention.  In  that 
convention  every  town  and  district  in  the  province  but  one 
was  represented.  Cushing,  late  Speaker  of  the  assembly, 
was  chosen  chairman.  The  governor  denounced  the  move- 
ment as  treasonable.  The  convention  disclaimed  all  pre- 
tensions to  political  authority,  but  professed  to  have  met 
"  in  this  dark  and  distressing  time  to  consult  and  advise  as 
to  the  best  manner  of  preserving  peace  and  good  order/' 
The  governor  warned  them  to  desist,  and  admonished  them 
to  separate  without  delay.  They  were  firm  but  respectful. 
They  adopted  a  petition  to  the  King,  and  a  defense  of  the 
province,  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the  agent  of  the  colony 
in  England.  This  was  the  first  of  those  popular  assemblies, 
which  soon  assumed  all  political  power,  as  derived  from  the 
people.  The  movement  was  approved  in  the  other  colonies. 
New  York  spoke  warm  words  of  encouragement ;  and  from 
Virginia,  where  some  of  the  boldest  and  most  patriotic  meas- 
ures of  the  day  had  been  adopted  during  the  three  years 
preceding,  and  also  from  South  Carolina,  came  the  injunc- 
tion, Stand  fast ! 

*  The  Watchman,  No.  V.,  Apri],  1770. 


1768.]  ARMED     OPPRESSORS.  229 

On  the  day  after  the  closing  of  the  provincial  conven- 
tion a  British  fleet  arrived  at  Boston,  bearing:  two  regiments 
from  Halifax,  and  took  a  hostile  attitude  while  the  troops 
were  landing.  It  was  on  Sunday  morning.  Seven  hun- 
dred troops,  with  bayonets  fixed,  colors  flying,  and  drums 
beating,  marched  into  the  doomed  town  with  all  the  inso- 
lence of  victors  into  a  conquered  city.  A  part  of  them 
encamped  on  the  Common  and  a  part  in  Faneuil  Hall. 
Every  strong  feeling  of  the  New  Englanders  was  outraged 
by  this  desecration,  and  a  thrill  of  indignation  ran  through- 
out the  colonies.  The  engine  of  non-importation  agree- 
ments, which  had  operated  so  powerfully  against  the  Stamp 
Act,  was  now  speedily  put  in  motion  again,  and  organized 
associations,  under  the  sanction  of  the  assemblies,  worked 
with  increased  energy.  An  agreement  of  the  kind,  pre- 
sented by  Washington  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses, 
was  signed  by  every  member  present;  and  the  patriotism  of 
the  people  was  every  where  displayed  by  acts  of  self  denial. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Colonel  Schuyler's  position  in  the  assembly  was  a 
delicate  one.  His  intimate  personal  friend,  the  governor, 
was  now,  from  the  necessities  of  his  position  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  crown,  arrayed  in  hostility  to  the  assem- 
bly and  the  people.  Yet  in  this  instance,  as  in  all  similar 
contingencies  in  his  public  life,  Colonel  Schuyler  did  not 
allow  private  friendships  to  interfere  with  his  duty  to  his 
country.  He  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colonists  from 
a  sincere  conviction  of  its  justice,  and  from  the  hour  when 
he  entered  the  assembly  he  was  never  known  to  swerve  a 
line  from  the  path  of  duty  into  which  these  convictions  led 
him. 

From  the  moment  when  he  entered  upon  his  legislative 
career,  he  was  faithful  to  the  interests  of  the  people.  He 
saw  with  pain  the  waste  of  time  exhibited  each  hour  by 
the  indolent  and  loose  manner  in  which  the  business  of  the 
House  was  conducted,  and  he  was  particularly  displeased 
with  the  confusion  produced  by  spectators,  and  those  who, 
by  courtesy,  were  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the  assembly 
chamber.  In  order  to  lessen  these  evils,  he  introduced  a 
resolution,  on  the  3d  of  November,  containing  the  follow- 
ing rules  and  regulations  for  the  maintenance  of  order  on 
the  floor : 

"  Ko  person  whatever  shall  be  admitted  into  the  House  but  such  as 
shall  be  introduced  by  a  member  thereof. 


1768.]  REPUBLIC  AN    PRINCIPLES    AT    WORK.     231 

u  No  member  to  introduce  more  than  one  person  at  a  time. 

"  If  any  member  shall  desire  the  House  to  be  cleared,  the  House  to 
be  cleared  immediately. 

"  In  order  that  the  House  may  not  be  disturbed,  all  persons  admitted 
are  to  behave  orderly  and  quietly,  and  that  none  presume  to  speak  or 
whisper.  And  that  if  any  man  shall  speak,  whisper,  or  stir  out  of  his 
place,  to  the  disturbance  of  the  House,  at  an}'  message  or  business  of 
importance,  Mr.  Speaker  is  to  present  his  name  for  the  House  to  proceed 
against  him." 

This  resolution  was  debated  and  lost  by  a  vote  of  thir- 
teen to  twelve. 

On  the  14th  of  November  there  was  a  serious  riot  in 
New  York,  growing  out  of  political  excitement,  in  which 
some  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  involved.  On  the  21st 
Governor  Moore  sent  a  message  into  the  assembly,  asking 
the  House  to  support  him  in  offering  a  reward  for  the  con- 
viction of  the  ringleaders.  On  the  following  day  the  House 
agreed  to  make  provisions  for  paying  a  reward,  which  was 
immediately  offered  in  a  proclamation  by  the  governor. 
Colonel  Schuyler  had  been  appointed,  the  previous  day, 
chairman  of  a  committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  gov- 
ernor on  that  occasion.  Always  averse  to  disorders  of  every 
kind,  in  that  address  he  uttered  words  of  reprobation  of 
the  acts  of  his  own  political  friends,  loyal  ones  toward  his 
King,  and  timely  ones  in  behalf  of  the  people.  It  was  as 
follows  : 

"  We,  his  Majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Colony  of  New  York,  having  taken  your  Excellency's 
message  of  yesterday  into  our  most  serious  consideration,  beg  leave  to 
assure  your  Excellency  that  though  we  feel,  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
the  colonies,  the  distresses  occasioned  by  the  new  duties  imposed  by  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  ill-policied  state  of  the  American 
commerce,  yet  we  are  far  from  conceiving  that  violent  and  tumultuous 
proceedings  will  have  any  tendency  to  promote  suitable  redress. 

"  Conscious  of  the  most  sincere  and  affectionate  loyalty  to  the  King 
our  sovereign,  trusting  to  his  paternal  protection,  and  depending  on  the 
justice  and  equity  of  the  British  Parliament,  we  are  preparing  decent 


232  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  35. 

and  proper  representations  of  the  state  of  this  colony,  to  be  laid  before 
his  Majesty  and  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  with  hopes  of  redress. 

"As  an  outrage  committed  against  the  laws,  and  a  disturbance  of  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  government,  may  expose  this  colony  to  disre- 
pute, and  the  inhabitants  to  a  disappointment  of  their  just  expectations, 
we  thank  your  Excellency  for  the  opportunity  you  have  given  us  to 
express  our  abhorrence  of  the  late  tumultuous  proceedings  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  for  your  intention  to  maintain  the  public  tranquility. 

"  It  is  with  pleasure  that  we  can  assure  your  Excellency  that  these 
disorderly  proceedings  are,  as  appears  to  us,  disapproved  by  the  inhabi- 
tants in  general,  and  are  imputable  only  to  the  indiscretion  of  a  very 
few  persons  of  the  lowest  class. 

"  A  riot  committed  in  defiance  of  the  magistrates,  (whose  vigilance  on 
this,  as  on  every  occasion,  to  suppress  turmoils  has  been  very  conspicu- 
ous,) and  contrary  to  the  known  sense  of  the  inhabitants,  at  this  so  criti- 
cal juncture,  has  justly  demanded  the  animadversion  of  government,  and 
we  beg  leave  to  assure  your  Excellency  of  our  ready  concurrence  in 
every  measure  conducive  to  good  order;  and  that  with  this  disposition 
we  have  resolved  on  a  proper  provision  to  enable  your  Excellency  to 
fulfill  the  engagement  you  have  entered  into  by  your  proclamation  ;  and 
that  we  will,  on  all  occasions,  endeavor  to  support  the  dignity  and  au- 
thority of  government." 

As  this  address  referred  to  the  obnoxious  acts  of  Par- 
liament in  a  tone  of  deprecation,  some  of  the  more  loyal 
and  obsequious  members  of  the  assembly  voted  to  reject  it, 
but  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  seventeen  to  five. 
This  being  considered  a  test  vote  on  the  feelings  of  the 
House,  it  was  hailed  as  a  triumph  by  the  republican 
party. 

Colonel  Schuyler  was  then  appointed,  with  Mr.  Ka- 
pelye,  a  committee  to  wait  on  the  governor  and  ascertain 
when  and  where  he  would  receive  the  address.  He  ap- 
pointed the  next  afternoon  as  the  time,  and  Fort  George  as 
the  place,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  on  that  day  the  address 
was  presented  to  the  governor  by  the  hands  of  Colonel 
Schuyler.  Its  tone,  though  loyal  and  indicative  of  a  desire 
to  support  order,  had,  nevertheless,  such  a  republican  ring 


17G8.]  RIGHTS     ASSERTED.  233 

about  it,  that  the  governor  was  not  officially  very  well 
pleased. 

On  the  24th  of  the  same  month,  Colonel  Schuyler  pre- 
sented a  most  important  bill.  It  provided  for  raising  three 
hundred  pounds,  currency,  within  the  city  and  county  of 
Albany,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  translation  into 
English  of  several  of  the  Dutch  records  remaining  in  the 
clerk's  office  in  that  county,  and  to  bind  up  and  index  the 
same.  Also  to  bind  up  and  index  all  other  records  remain- 
ing in  the  office.  The  bill  was  passed  ten  days  afterward, 
and  being  carried  to  the  council  by  Colonel  Schuyler  and 
Abraham  Tenbroeck,  it  was  concurred  in  by  that  body, 
and  received  Sir  Henry  Moore's  signature. 

At  the  close  of  December  the  New  York  Assembly,  in 
which  was  a  large  majority  of  Kepublicans,  fully  and 
warmly  sympathizing  with  the  popular  movements  in  all 
the  colonies  concerning  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
Americans,  adopted  a  series  of  bold  and  important  resolu- 
tions, asserting  "  the  rights  and  privileges  of  his  Majesty's 
subjects  within  the  colony  of  New  York."  There  is  rea- 
sonable circumstantial  evidence  to  show  that  Colonel  Schuy- 
ler was  the  author  of  those  resolves.  They  asserted  the 
right  of  petition  as  belonging  equally  to  their  body  and  the 
House  of  Commons  ;  that  the  colony  lawfully  and  consti- 
tutionally possessed  and  enjoyed  "an  internal  legislature 
of  its  own,  in  which  the  crown  and  people  of  the  colony 
were  constitutionally  represented  ;  and  that  the  power  and 
authority  of  legislation  could  not  lawfully  or  constitution- 
ally be  suspended,  abridged,  abrogated,  or  annulled  by  any 
power,  or  authority  or  prerogative  whatever." 

They  boldly  asserted  their  right  to  correspond  and  con- 
sult with  other  subjects  out  of  the  colony  or  in  other  parts 
of  the  realm,  either  individually  or  collectively,   on  any 


234  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  35. 

matter  wherein  their  rights  or  interests,  or  those  of  their 
constituents  were  or  might  be  affected  ;  and  acting  upon 
this  conviction,  they  appointed  a  committee  of  correspond- 
ence, to  report  its  transactions  to  subsequent  meetings  of 
the  House. 

To  the  third  resolution,  which  declared  that  the  assem- 
bly had  the  right  to  such  free  correspondence,  Captain  De 
Lancey  moved  as  an  addition  that  "  the  action  of  Parlia- 
ment, suspending  the  Legislature  of  this  colony,  is  a  high 
infringement  of  the  freedom  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  col- 
ony, and  tends  to  deprive  them  of  their  natural  and  con- 
stitutional rights  and  privileges."  This  addition  was  not 
adopted,  for  the  avowed  reason,  that  these  views  were  suf- 
ficiently expressed  in  the  original  resolution. 

Petitions  to  the  King,  and  to  the  Houses  of  Lords  and 
Commons,  were  also  prepared,  in  which  they  pronounced 
the  late  acts,  imposing  duties  "  with  the  sole  view  and  ex- 
press purpose  of  raising  a  revenue,  utterly  subversive  of 
their  constitutional  rights,  because  as  they  neither  are," 
they  said,  "  nor,  from  their  peculiar  circumstances,  can  be 
represented  in  Parliament,  their  property  is  granted  away 
without  their  consent/' 

These  resolutions  and  petitions  gave  great  official  um- 
brage to  Governor  Moore,  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  3d  of  January,  1769,  he  summoned  the  assembly 
to  attend  him  in  the  council  chamber  in  the  City  Hall  at 
once.  They  obeyed,  when  the  governor  told  them  that  from 
the  address  concerning  the  riots,  which  they  had  presented 
to  him  on  the  23d  of  November,  he  thought  they  were  op- 
posed to  all  immoderate  measures,  but  the  extraordinary 
resolves  which  they  had  lately  adopted,  and  the  represen- 
tations of  the  state  of  the  colony  which  they  had  proposed 
to  send  his  Majesty,  showed  such  intemperate  heat,  that 


1*769.]  NEW     ELECTIONS.  235 

his  duty  forbade  his  countenancing  their  conduct.  His 
speech  was  mild  and  conciliatory,  but  firm,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  the  most  respectful  attention.  He  concluded 
by  declaring  the  assembly  dissolved. 

On  the  day  of  the  dissolution  the  governor  issued  writs 
for  a  new  election,  returnable  on  the  4th  of  February. 
The  canvass  was  conducted  with  a  great  deal  of  warmth, 
especially  in  the  city  of  New  York.  John  Morin  Scott, 
one  of  the  most  active  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  had,  in  the 
form  of  a  petition,  made  grave  charges  against  Mr.  Jaun- 
cey,  one  of  the  city  members  of  the  assembly.  He  after- 
ward made  an  affidavit  concerning  matters  contained  in  his 
petition,  and  attempted  to  get  it  before  the  House.  On  the 
7th  of  November  a  vote  was  taken  in  the  House  to  have 
the  affidavit  read,  when  only  Colonel  Schuyler,  his  friend 
Tenbroeck,  and  Peter  K.  Livingston  voted  for  it.  There 
was  an  overwhelming  majority  against  it ;  and  then  an  un- 
successful attempt  was  made  to  declare  Scott's  charges  of 
corruption,  et  cetera,  "  frivolous  and  vexatious."  The  bit- 
terness engendered  by  these  movements  produced  the  fiercest 
partisanship  at  the  election,  and  before  ;  and  on  the  very 
day  when  the  assembly  was  dissolved  we  find,  by  the 
record,  that  the  House  was  "  informed  that  Whitehead 
Hicks,  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  Elias  Des- 
brosses,  one  of  the  aldermen,  had  bound  over  to  the  peace 
Jacob  Walton  and  Philip  Schuyler,  Esquires."  The  assem- 
bly had  just  ordered  that  those  officials  should  attend  the 
House  the  next  day,  and  show  cause  for  their  action  against 
two  members  of  that  body,  when  the  summons  of  Sir  Henry 
and  the  dissolution  of  the  assembly  put  an  end  to  the 
matter. 

The  elections  were  held  late  in  January.  On  the  16th, 
Peter  R.  Livingston,  the  representative  for  the  manor  of 


236  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  35. 

Livingston  in  the  last  House,  wrote  as  follows  to  Colonel 
Schuyler : 

"  Since  my  last  I  have  only  to  acquaint  you  that  we  are  all  hard  at 
work.  I  think  the  prospect  has  a  good  aspect,  and  at  all  events  Jauncey 
must  go  to  the  Avail  this  time.  I  make  no  doubt,  if  we  can  keep  the 
eople  to  the  promise  they  have  made,  that  Philip  [Livingston]  and 
Scott  will  be  two,  and  if  the  opposite  party  push  old  John  Cruger,  I  am 
of  opinion  that  they  will  push  one  of  the  other  two  out.  Our  canvass 
stands  well,  but  there  will  be  a  vast  deal  of  cross-voting.  The  two  they 
all  pitch  on,  of  our  four,  are  Philip  and  Scott,  which  will  put  them  in. 
But  there  is  a  great  deal  in  good  management  of  the  votes.  Our  people 
are  in  high  spirits,  and  if  there  is  not  fair  play  shown  there  will  be 
bloodshed,  as  we  have  by  far  the  best  part  of  the  Bruisers  on  our  side, 
who  are  determined  to  use  force  if  they  use  any  foul  play.  I  have  en- 
gaged from  the  first  day,  and  am  determined  to  see  it  out.  Lewis  Morris 
certainly  comes  for  the  Borough  [Westchester].  Henry  Holland  is 
obliged  to  resign  for  Eichmond,  as  young  Browne  and  young  Farmer 
set  up  in  opposition  to  each  other."* 

Livingston  adds,  in  a  postcript :  "  Miss  Moore  ran  away 
with  Captain  Dickinson  last  Friday  night.  She  has  been 
married  to  him  ever  since  last  July."  It  was  Henrietta 
Moore,  daughter  of  the  governor.  Captain  Dickinson  had 
been  stationed  at  Fort  George  for  some  time,  and  being 
ordered  to  another  post,  his  young  wife  went  with  him. 

Livingston's  predictions  were  not  all  verified.  In  New 
York,  "  old  John  Cruger"  was  substituted  for  Philip  Liv- 
ingston, who  was  chosen  to  represent  the  manor  of  Living- 
ston in  place  of  the  writer  of  the  above  letter.  ■  Nathaniel 
Woodhull,  afterward  president  of  the  revolutionary  con- 
vention of  the  province,  was  substituted  for  Miller,  of 
Suffolk;  Christopher  Billopfor  Holland;  and  Lewis  Morris 
for  James  De  Lancey,  as  representative  of  the  borough  of 
Westchester.     There  were  but  few  other  changes. 

Colonel  Schuyler  was  reelected  by  a  very  large  majority. 
On  account  of  his  bold  stand  on  the  side  of  the  colonists 
*  Autograph  letter. 


1769.]  PUBLIC     APPRECIATION.  237 

in  the  pending,  dispute,  a  few  opposed  him.  His  freedom 
of  speech  in  commenting  upon  the  acts  of  public  officers 
offended  a  few  officials,  and  these,  of  course,  were  among 
his  opponents.  Sir  William  Johnson  took  offense  at  re- 
marks reported  to  have  been  made  by  Colonel  Schuyler 
respecting  some  matters  connected  with  a  late  treaty  with 
the  Indians  at  Fort  Stanvvix  ;  and  also  at  his  alleged  par- 
ticipation in  an  attempt  to  pass  a  law  to  prevent  members 
of  the  governor's  council  voting  or  otherwise  intermeddling 
in  party  affairs,  supposed  by  Sir  William  to  be  specially 
intended  for  himself.  The  baronet  wrote  a  very  courteous 
letter  to  Colonel  Schuyler  on  the  subject  at  the  middle  of 
January,  frankly  telling  him  that  if  what  he  had  heard 
should  not  be  disavowed  before  the  election,  he  should  not 
support  him. 

The  friendship  between  Colonel  Schuyler  and  Governor 
Moore  was  not  disturbed  by  their  political  differences.  Their 
correspondence  during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1769  exhibits 
the  same  cordial  feelings,  personally,  as  before  the  dispute. 
They  were  both  too  generous  and  high  minded  to  allow  po- 
litical opinions  to  excite  private  enmity,  and  until  the  gov- 
ernor's death,  the  following  autumn,  he  had  not  a  warmer 
personal  friend  in  the  province  than  Colonel  Schuyler. 

Letters  containing  generous  greetings  and  congratula- 
tions on  account  of  his  reelection  were  received  by  Colonel 
Schuyler,  and  such  confidence  had  leading  men  in  the  pro- 
vince in  his  qualities  of  statesmanship,  that  they  turned  to 
him  as  one  of  the  best  fitted  of  their  public  men  for  a 
contemplated  special  embassy  to  England.  "  Things  are 
drawing  to  a  crisis,"  wrote  William  Smith,  in  February. 
"  I  suspect  we  shall  next  be  obliged  to  send  home  special 
agents  as  our  last  shift,  and  if  the  Judge  (Robert  R.  Liv- 
ingston) gets  in  for  Dutchess,  and  I  had  a  voice,  you  and 


238  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  35. 

him  should  be  urged  to  see  England  in  this  momentous 
embassy."*  But  "  the  Judge"  did  not  succeed  in  Dutchess, 
"  owing  to  all  the  tenants  of  Beekman  and  R.  Gr.  Living- 
ston voting  against  him  ;"f  the  embassy  was  never  under- 
taken, and  Colonel  Schuyler  remained  to  serve  his  country 
in  a  far  more  useful  field. 

The  new  assembly  met  on  the  4th  of  April.  Colonel 
Schuyler  took  a  leading  position  in  the  House  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session,  and  ever  afterward  maintained 
it.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  usual  committee  to 
draw  up  a  response  to  the  governor's  opening  message.  He 
prepared  it,  and  it  was  adopted  on  the  8th.  After  referring 
to  the  governor's  speech,  in  which  his  excellency  said  that 
he  should  not  burden  them  with  much  business,  the  address 
went  on  to  say  that  the  members  of  the  assembly  were  the 
servants  of  the  public,  and  were  ready  to  attend  to  all  bus- 
iness which  the  welfare  of  the  colony  required.  Then  re- 
ferring to  the  governor's  recommendation,  pursuant  to  the 
command  of  ministers,  that  the  agent  to  solicit  the  affairs 
of  the  colony  in  England  should  be  appointed  as  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  and  the  West  Indies,  by  the 
governor,  council,  and  assembly,  and  not  by  the  assembly 
alone,  the  address  boldly  said  : 

"  We  could  wish  that  the  mode  which  your  Excellency  recommends 
to  this  House,  in  the  appointment  of  our  agent  for  this  colony,  to  reside 
at  the  court  of  Grreat  Britain,  was  evidently  calculated  for  the  public 
benefit.  To  us  it  appears  replete  with  difficulties  and  dangers,  that, 
were  they  proper  to  be  enumerated  in  our  address,  we  humbly  conceive 
your  Excellency  would  coincide  in  sentiment  with  us  that  the  mode 
your  Excellency  points  out  is  by  no  means  consistent  with  the  duty  of 
our  station  to  enter  into.     You  '11  pardon  us,  therefore,  sir,  if  on  this  oc- 

*  Autograph  letter,  February  11,  1760. 

f  Autograph  letter  of  Peter  R.  Livingston  to  Colonel  Schuyler,  February, 
1769. 


1769.]         FIRMNESS     OF     THE     ASSEMBLY.  239 

casion  we  declare,  with  that  freedom  which  is  the  birthright  of  English- 
men, that  it  would  be  sacrificing  the  rights  and  diminishing  the  liberties 
of  our  constituents  to  adopt  any  other  mode  of  appointment  than  that 
which  has  been  practiced  in  this  colony  for  many  years  past.  We  ac- 
knowledge that  the  mode  which  your  Excellency  recommends  has 
taken  place  in  this  colony;  but  the  inconveniency  has  doubtless  been  as 
apparent  to  former  assemblies  as  it  is  to  this.  For  after  having  had  an 
agent  at  the  court  of  Great  Britain  for  a  few  years,  appointed  by  act 
of  the  governor,  council,  and  general  assembly,  the  house  of  represen- 
tatives have  constantly  declined  to  continue  that  mode  of  appointment, 
and  have  for  many  years  uninteruptedly  exercised  the  privilege  of 
nominating  him,  which  has  been  acquiesced  in  by  the  crown  imme- 
diately, and  by  his  several  representatives,  as  governors  of  this  colony, 
im plica tively,  amongst  whom  we  have  the  satisfaction  to  include  your 
Excellency.  We  should,  therefore,  be  extremely  sorry  that  any  diffi- 
culties should,  in  future,  arise  in  transacting  the  affairs  of  this  colony  by 
an  agent  constituted  as  ours  is." 

In  reference  to  the  governor's  requisition  for  additional 
provisions  for  the  support  of  British  troops  in  the  colony, 
the  address  plainly  said  : 

"  The  sums  that  have  been  already  granted  for  the  support  of  his 
Majesty's  troops  in  barracks  are  very  considerable.  The  repeated  ap- 
plication of  monies  to  that  purpose  would  effectually  ruin  a  colony,' 
whose  trade,  by  unnatural  restrictions  and  the  want  of  a  paper  cur- 
rency to  supply  the  almost  total  deficiency  of  specie,  is  so  much  de- 
clined, and  still  declining,  that  its  distresses,  in  a  very  short  time,  will 
become  so  great  that  it  will  be  almost  equally  difficult  to  conceive  as  to 
describe  them.  In  this  unhappy  situation,  your  Excellency's  requisition 
for  fresh  aid  demands  our  most  serious  consideration. 

"  We  thank  your  Excellency  for  the  readiness  you  express  to  con- 
cur with  us  in  any  measure  for  promoting  his  Majesty's  service  and  the 
advantage  of  the  colony.  We  assure  you,  sir,  that  nothing  will  ever  be 
more  agreeable  to  this  House  than  that  a  perfect  harmony  should  con- 
tinue to  subsist  between  the  several  branches  of  the  Legislature." 

On  presenting  this  response  to  the  governor's  address, 
Colonel  Schuyler  said  : 

"  As  the  repeated  resolves  and  applications  of  the  colonies,  relative 
to  Parliamentary  taxation,  and  the  embarrased  state  of  our  commerce, 


240  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEr.  35. 

and  several  other  grievances,  have  not  been  attended  with  the  success 
so  ardently  wished  for,  and  so  mutually  conducive  to  the  tranquillity  of 
the  British  empire ;  and  as  the  growing  distresses  of  our  constituents 
loudly  call  for  our  most  earnest  attention  to  measures  best  calculated  to 
preserve  the  union  between  Great  Britain  and  her  plantations,  and  re- 
storing a  lasting  harmony,  founded  in  mutual  affection  and  interest,  I 
therefore  move  that  a  day  be  appointed  for  taking  the  state  of  this  col- 
ony into  our  most  serious  consideration,  and  for  the  appointment  of 
special  agents,  of  approved  abilities  and  integrity,  to  be  sent  home,  in- 
structed to  exert  their  most  strenuous  efforts,  in  conjunction  with  such 
agents  as  the  other  colonies  have  sent,  or  may  think  proper  to  send,  in 
soliciting  the  important  affairs  of  this  country  at  the  court  of  Great 
Britain,  and  before  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  during  the  course  of 
the  next  session."* 

The  subject  of  religious  freedom  had  engaged  much  of 
the  attention  of  Colonel  Schuyler  during  the  long  years 
that  the  topic  of  episcopacy  in  America  had  been  discussed, 
and  which  was  then  a  prominent  subject  for  disputation. 
He  had  been  taught  to  regard  hierarchies  with  disgust,  and 
to  yearn  for  a  more  liberal  spirit  among  professing  Chris- 
tians. With  that  fall  measure  of  common  sense  which 
always  distinguished  him,  he  perceived  that  all  primary 
movements  for  the  general  benefit  of  society  must  be  local 
and  circumscribed,  and  if  founded  upon  truth  would  as 
surely  expand  as  the  circles  of  waves  go  outward  from  the 
point  where  a  pebble  is  dropped  into  the  still  water.  With 
this  view,  and  mingling  with  his  ideas  of  spiritual  needs 
the  practical  one  of  physical  and  social  advancement,  he 
finally  brought  forward  in  the  assembly  a  proposition  ex- 
pressive of  a  scheme  which  he  had  long  been  revolving  in 
his  mind.  On  the  26th  of  April  he  arose  in  his  place,  and 
said  : 

"  I  move  that  as  the  cultivation  of  the  extensive  territory  in  the 
county  of  Albany  will  be  highly  beneficial  to  the  crown  and  the  colony; 
and  as  one  of  the  best  means  to  invite  settlers  will  be  to  encourage  the 

*  Journal  of  the  Assembly. 


1769.J  THE     INDIAN     TRADE.  241 

worship  of  God  upon  generous  principles  of  equal  indulgence  to  loyal 
Protestants  of  every  persuasion ;  and  as  proprietors  of  large  tracts  are 
willing  to  give  small  parcels  of  land  for  the  support  of  ministers  and 
schoolmasters  to  aid  the  new  settlers,  provided  the  same  can  be  secured 
to  the  pious  purposes  of  the  donors ;  that  leave  be  given  me  to  bring  in 
a  bill  to  enable  every  church  and  congregation  of  reformed  Protestants 
in  the  county  of  Albany,  without  discrimination,  to  take  and  hold  real 
estate  to  the  value  of  a  given  amount  per  annum,  for  the  support  of  the 
gospel  among  them." 


Leave  was  given,  he  brought  in  a  bill,  and  it  soon  after- 
ward became  a  law. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  session,  a  long  memorial  from 
"merchants,  traders,  and  others  concerned  in  or  affected  by 
the  Indian  trade/'  addressed  to  Jacob  Teneyck  and  Philip 
Schuyler,  representatives  for  the  city  and  county  of  Al- 
bany, Jacobus  Myndert,  representative  of  the  township  of 
Schenectada,  and  Abraham  Tenbroeck  and  Eobert  R.  Liv- 
ingston, representatives  respectively  of  the  manors  of  Rens- 
selaer and  Livingston,  was  presented,  in  which  the  memo- 
rialists, after  expressing  their  satisfaction  because  the  gov- 
ernor had  recommended  the  passage  of  an  act  for  regu- 
lating the  Indian  trade,  set  forth  their  views,  based  upon 
stated  facts  and  conclusions.  This  memorial  was  referred 
to  a  committee  of  the  assembly,  of  which  Colonel  Schuyler 
was  chairman,  and  on  the  10th  of  May  he  presented  a  re- 
port on  the  subject,  carefully  drawn  by  his  own  hand. 
That  report,  from  its  completeness  and  valuable  sugges- 
tions, excited  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  Colonel  Schuy- 
ler and  Mr.  De  Lancey  were  instructed  to  prepare  and 
bring  in  a  bill  for  the  regulation  of  the  Indian  trade. 
That  bill  soon  became  a  law,  and  the  regulations  adopted 
under  it  were  in  operation  until  the  commencement  of  the 
Revolution,  and  the  change  in  the  relative  position  of  all 
parties  concerned  was  effected  by  the  war. 

11 


242  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  35. 

The  power  of  executive  influence  over  the  legislation  of 
the  colony  had  long  been  deplored,  yet  no  one  had  nerve 
enough  to  take  the  evil  by  the  horns  and  accomplish  some- 
thing toward  its  arrest,  until,  on  the  17th  of  May,  Colonel 
Schuyler,  after  some  preliminary  remarks,  said,  "  I  move 
that  it  may  be  resolved  by  this  House,  that  no  member  of 
this  House,  or  that  may  hereafter  be  elected  to  sit  herein, 
holding  any  place  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust  whatever  under 
the  crown,  shall  have  a  seat  in  this  House,  unless  such 
member  shall  resign  the  same  within  six  months  next  after 
such  resolve  (if  any)  shall  be  made."  By  a  majority  of 
only  one  the  question  on  the  motion  was  postponed. 

Resolutions  were  next  passed  asserting  the  sole  right 
of  imposing  taxes  to  belong  to  the  assembly  ;  also  claim- 
ing for  the  people  the  right  of  petition  and  of  trial  by 
jury  ;  al]  of  which  had  been  practically  questioned  by  the 
parent  government.  It  was  also  resolved,  in  consideration* 
of  ministerial  action  against  the  province  of  Massachusetts, 
that  sending  persons  for  trial  to  places  beyond  the  high 
seas  was  "  highly  derogatory  to  the  rights  of  British  sub- 
jects." These  movements,  so  bold,  so  indocile,  if  not  re- 
bellious, mortified  Governor  Moore,  (for  he  found  himself 
absolutely  weak  in  power,  the  assembly  being  supported 
by  the  people,)  and  on  the  20th  of  May  he  prorogued 
the  Legislature  to  the  7th  of  July.  On  the  same  day 
the  assembly  had,  with  very  great  reluctance,  voted  fif- 
teen hundred  pounds  for  the  support  of  the  troops  in  the 
colony. 

At  about  this  time  the  Massachusetts  assembly  con- 
vened, and  resolved  that  it  was  inconsistent  with  their 
dignity  and  freedom  to  deliberate  in  the  midst  of  an  armed 
force,  and  that  the  presence  of  a  military  and  naval  arma- 
ment was  a  breach  of  privilege.     They  refused  to  enter- 


17G9.]        THE     COLONIES     SYMPATHIZING.  243 

tain  any  subject  except  a  redress  of  their  grievances,  and 
the  usual  business  of  granting  supplies  was  passed  by- 
unnoticed.  They  solicited  the  governor  to  remove  the 
troops  from  Boston  to  Castle  William,  in  the  harbor,1 
and  on  his  refusal  they  voted  a  petition  to  the  King  for 
his  recall. 

Virginia,  over  whose  councils  Lord  Botetourt,  a  kind- 
hearted,  conciliatory,  but  vain  and  ambitious  gentleman, 
now  presided,  gave  generous  support  to  Massachusetts  in 
her  hour  of  trial,  and  sent  her  words  of  greeting.  These 
and  other  measures  offended  royal  authority,  and  the 
governor,  as  in  duty  bound,  dissolved  the  Virginia  as- 
sembly. 

In  other  provinces  like  proceedings  occurred,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1769,  the  antagonisms  between  the  governors  of 
the  provinces  and  their  respective  Legislatures  and  people 
produced  much  confusion  and  excitement.  To  this,  in 
New  York,  was  added  great  irritation,  when  it  was  known 
that  a  resolution  of  Lord  North  (who  had  succeeded  Town- 
shend  as  chancellor  of  the  exchequer),  that  a  respectful  pe- 
tition from  the  assembly  of  that  province  should  not  be 
received,  had  been  passed  by  the  Parliament.  Had  intelli- 
gence of  this  insult  reached  New  York  before  the  passage 
of  the  resolution  to  appropriate  money  for  the  troops  had 
been  acted  upon,  that  measure  would  not  have  been  pro- 
posed even. 

The  British  ministry,  baffled  in  their  attempts  to  draw 
a  revenue  from  America  by  coercive  measures,  now  contem- 
plated a  resort  to  milder  ones.  The  non-importation  agree- 
ments had  been  generally  adhered  to  faithfully,  and  their 
effects  upon  English  commerce  made  them  the  instruments 
again  in  bringing  ministers  to  their  senses.  The  English 
merchants  were  really  more  injured  by  the  acts  of  Parlia- 


244  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^t.  35. 

ment  than  the  Americans.  The  exports  from  England  to 
America,  which,  in  1768,  had  amounted  to  $11,890,000,  of 
which  amount  $660,000  were  the  value  of  tea  alone,  fell, 
in  1769,  to  a  little  more  than  $8,000,000,  the  value  of  tea 
being  only  $220,000.  The  English  merchants,  therefore, 
joined  their  American  brethren  in  petitions  and  remon- 
strances ;  and  under  the  direction  of  Lord  North,  the  Earl 
of  Hillsborough  sent  a  circular  letter  to  the  colonies,  inti- 
mating that  the  duties  upon  all  articles  enumerated  in  the 
late  act  would  be  taken  off,  as  a  measure  of  expediency 
(not  of  right),  except  on  tea.  This  was  unsatisfactory, 
for  it  was  not  the  amount  of  the  tax,  but  the  principle  in- 
volved, that  caused  the  contention.  The  principle  was  the 
same,  whether  the  duty  was  laid  upon  one  commodity  or 
on  a  dozen ;  and  so  long  as  the  Parliament  assumed  the 
right  to  tax  the  colonies  without  their  consent,  so  long  the 
Americas  would  dispute  it.  The  year  1769  closed  with- 
out any  apparent  hope  for  a  reconciliation  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  for  warnings  came  with  Hills- 
borough's circular  letter  exhorting  the  Americans  to  not 
put  their  "  trust  in  princes/'  nor  their  creatures. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

The  assembly,  prorogued  until  the  7th  of  July,  did  not 
meet  until  the  21st  of  November.  There  was  a  second 
prorogation  until  September,  but  at  that  time  Governor 
Moore  was  seriously  ill.  His  daughter,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  left  her  home  with  her  husband,  Capt.  Dickinson,  and 
in  June  his  wife  sailed  for  England  to  meet  that  daughter 
in  London  and  to  visit  her  own  friends.  Sir  Henry's  ill- 
ness was  hrief  and  fatal.  He  died  on  the  11th  of  Septem- 
ber, and  the  reins  of  government  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Lieutenant  Governor  Colden  for  the  third  time.  Sir  Henry 
was  beloved  hy  many,  and  thoroughly  respected  by  all  par- 
ties ;  and  when  Gaine's  New  York  Mercury  eulogized  him 
for  his  liberal  views,  a  correspondent,  jealous  of  the  de- 
ceased governor's  character  as  a  churchman,  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  deny  that  he  ever  attended  any  other  than  the 
Episcopal  Church. 

During  the  recess  Colonel  Schuyler  was  frequently  in 
New  York.  These  visits,  and  his  attentive  correspondent 
and  legal  adviser,  William  Smith,  kept  him  fully  acquainted 
with  current  political  measures,  which  the  gazettes  did  not 
always  reveal.  Smith  was  especially  vigilant  in  watching 
the  movement  for  establishing  episcopacy  in  the  colonies. 
"  The  ministerial  rebuff  to  the  bishop  scheme,"  he  wrote 
in  August,  "  animates  the  non-episcopal  patriots,  and  has 
brought  the  tories  to  reason.     The  two  archbishops  are 


246  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JET.  36. 

commanded  to  cease  their  solicitations,  for  that  it  was  his 
Majesty's  aim  rather  to  heal  than  foment  the  distractions 
of  the  empire.  Will  you  believe  it  !  all  the  sons  of  am- 
bition begin  openly  to  disavow  the  project  for  an  episco- 
pate." * 

On  the  1st  of  November  the  leading  Sons  of  Liberty  in 
New  York,  the  most  active  of  whom  were  Isaac  Sears, 
Alexander  McDougal,  John  Lamb,  John  Morin  Scott, 
Caspar  Wistar,  and  Sanmel  Broome,  celebrated  the  anni- 
versary of  the  day  on  which  the  Stamp  Act  was  to  go  into 
effect,  but  which  witnessed  its  utter  failure.  Colonel 
Schuyler,  who  had  gone  to  New  York  earlier  than  the 
opening  of  the  assembly,  to  transact  private  business,  was 
present  at  the  dinner,  and  participated  in  the  proceedings. 
The  toasts  drank  on  the  occasion,  as  given  in  the  published 
records  of  the  celebration  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day, 
evince  the  spirit  of  those  assembled.  They  drank  to  the 
King — his  honest  counselors — the  great  and  general  court 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  as  first  to  promote  the  congress  of 
1765 — the  majority  in  that  congress — the  patriotic  House 
of  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  and  all  the  Houses  of  Assembly 
on  the  continent  who  had  nobly  opposed  arbitrary  power. 
They  also  proposed,  as  a  sentiment,  that  the  last  resolu- 
tions of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  Commons  House  of 
Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  in  not  granting  supplies  to 
his  Majesty's  troops,  should  be  examples  to  be  universally 
followed  in  the  colonies.  With  a  studied  disrespect  they 
made  no  allusion  to  Governor  C olden,  who,  politically,  was 
very  obnoxious  to  the  great  majority  of  the  people. 

The  assembly  convened  on  the  21st  of  November.  In 
his  speech,  Lieutenant  Governor  Colden  intimated  that  the 
obnoxious  acts  of  Parliament  concerning  duties  would  be 

*  Autograph  letter. 


1769.]  STRANGE     COALITION.  247 

repealed ;  asked  for  temperate  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Legislature,  and  informed  them  that  in  future  the  regula- 
tions of  the  Indian  trade  were  to  he  left  with  the  colonists. 
He  then  told  them  that  the  sum  they  had  voted  for  the 
support  of  the  troops  was  exhausted,  and  asked  for  further 
supplies.  To  the  latter  request  the  House,  in  an  address  a 
few  days  afterward,  replied :  "  In  the  present  impoverished 
state  of  the  colony,  every  requisition  for  a  fresh  supply  will 
demand  our  most  serious  consideration." 

At  this  juncture  an  extraordinary  coalition  between 
Colden  and  the  powerful  De  Lancey  family  appeared,  and 
excited  much  suspicion  among  the  patriots.  Opposite  po- 
litical elements  seemed  suddenly  to  strangely  assimilate, 
and  the  leaven  of  aristocracy,  working  with  the  loyalty 
excited  by  the  lieutenant  governor's  assurances  of  the  pro- 
bable repeal  of  obnoxious  acts,  began  to  work  in  the  as- 
sembly. It  was  evident  to  sagacious  minds  that  a  scheme 
involving  the  liberties  of  the  province,  perhaps  of  America, 
was  maturing,  and  there  was  general  alarm  among  the 
people.  Suddenly  a  resolution  for  the  emission  of  bills  of 
credit — a  measure  which  the  true  friends  of  the  colony  had 
earnestly  desired — found  favor  with  the  coalition,  notwith- 
standing it  was  in  contradiction  with  acts  of  Parliament. 
It  was  supported  with  the  plea  that  there  was  a  great 
lack  of  specie,  caused  by  the  interdiction  of  traffic  with 
the  West  Indies  and  the  total  absence  of  a  paper  currency, 
reducing  values,  preventing  remittances  to  England,  and 
obstructing  provisions  for  the  public  service. 

An  act  was  finally  presented  which  provided  for  the 
issuing  of  bills  of  credit,  on  the  security  of  the  province, 
to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  to  be  loaned  to  the  people,  the  interest  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  defraying  of  the  expenses  of  the  colonial  gov- 


248  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  36. 

eminent.  It  was  simply  a  project  for  a  monster  bank, 
without  checks,  and  was  doubtless  intended  by  the  lieu- 
tenant governor,  and  the  Tories  acting  with  him,  to  cheat 
the  people  into  a  compliance  with  the  Mutiny  Act,  by  the 
indirect  method  of  applying  the  profits  to  that  purpose, 
the  support  of  the  troops  being  a  part  of  the  "  expenses  of 
the  colonial  government."  To  still  further  cover  this  ob- 
scure intention,  there  was  connected  with  the  emission  act 
a  provision  for  granting  one  thousand  pounds  from  the  col- 
onial treasury,  and  one  thousand  more  to  be  issued  under 
the  act,  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  troops.  The 
resolutions  connected  with  the  incipient  steps  in  this  meas- 
ure passed  the  House,  in  committee  of  the  whole,  by  only 
one  majority. 

The  leaders  of  the  popular  party  raised  a  cry  of  alarm 
while  this  measure  was  pending.  On  Sunday,  the  16th  of 
December,  a  hand-bill  was  found  distributed  over  the  town, 
headed,  "  To  the  betrayed  inhabitants  of  the  City  and  Col- 
ony of  New  York;"  and  signed  "  A  Son  of  Liberty."  It 
denounced  the  proposal  to  issue  bills  of  credit  as  a  decep- 
tive covering  to  some  wicked  design  not  likely  to  be  accep- 
table to  the  King.  It  declared  that  the  proposition  to 
grant  supplies  to  the  troops  unqualifiedly  was  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  right  to  exact  such  subsidies,  and  a  virtual 
approval  of  all  the  revenue  acts  ;  and  that  t\\e  scheme  was 
intended  to  divide  and  distract  the  colonies.  It  pointed 
the  assembly  to  the  firm  stand  taken  by  other  colonies,  and 
exhorted  them  to  imitate  their  examples.  It  hinted  at  a 
corrupt  combination,  the  effect  of  the  acting  governor's  cu- 
pidity and  the  ambitious  designs  of  a  powerful  family  ; 
called  upon  the  assembly  to  repudiate  the  act  concocted  by 
the  coalition;  and  closed  with  a  summons  for  the  people  to 
assemble  in  "  the  fields"  (City  Hall  Park),  to  express  theii 


1769.1  A     TRUE     PATRIOT'S     VOTE.  249 

opinions  and  insist  upon  their  representatives  in  the  assem- 
bly joining  the  minority,  and  in  the  event  of  their  refusal, 
to  send  tidings  thereof  to  every  assembly  on  the  continent, 
and  publish  them  to  the  world. 

This  hand-bill  appeared,  as  we  have  observed,  on  Sun- 
day, and  on  Monday  not  less  than  fourteen  hundred  people 
gathered  around  the  Liberty  Pole,  where  they  were  ha- 
rangued by  John  Lamb,  a  native  of  the  city,  an  active  Son 
of  Liberty,  and  then  thirty-four  years  of  age.  By  a  vote 
they  unanimously  condemned  the  action  of  the  assembly. 
A  committee  of  seven,  appointed  for  that  purpose,  bore 
their  sentiments  to  that  body,  who,  after  receiving  them 
respectfully,  set  about  ferreting  out  the  author  or  authors 
of  the  hand-bill.  The  Speaker  laid  the  offensive  document 
before  the  assembly,  and  Mr.  De  Lancey  moved  that  the 
sense  of  the  House  should  be  taken  "  whether  the  said 
paper  was  not  an  infamous  and  scandalous  libel."  When 
the  vote  was  taken,  twenty  of  the  pliant  assembly  voted 
that  it  was  so,  and  only  one  member  voted  No.  That 
member  was  Philip  Schuyler.  He  boldly  faced  the 
gathering  storm,  and  by  his  vote  rebuked,  in  a  most  em- 
phatic manner,  the  cringing  cowardice  of  those  of  his  com- 
peers who  had  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  him  in 
former  trials ;  and  proclaimed  to  the  world  his  belief  in  the 
truth  of  the  allegations  which  the  assembly  pronounced  "a 
false,  seditious,  and  infamous  libel."  The  assembly  then 
resolved  that  the  lieutenant  governor  should  offer  a  reward 
of  £100  for  the  discovery  of  the  author  or  authors  of  the 
handbill. 

This  action  of  the  assembly  was  denounced  in  another 
handbill,  signed  "  Legion"  in  which  the  "  base,  inglorious 
conduct  of  the  assembly,"  in  abandoning  the  interests  of 
the  people,  was  spoken  of  in  very  strong  terms.     This,  also, 

11* 


250  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  36. 

was  voted  to  be  libellous,  and  the  lieutenant  governor  was 
authorized  to  offer  £50  for  the  discovery  of  the  author. 
After  this,  further  provision  for  the  support  of  the  troops, 
to  the  amount  of  £2,000  per  annum,  was  voted. 

On  the  same  day  Colonel  Schuyler  nominated  Edmund 
Burke  as  agent  in  England  for  the  colony  of  New  York, 
but  the  appointment  was  not  made  until  December,  1770. 
Colonel  Schuyler  also  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  pro- 
vide for  the  election  of  representatives  by  secret  ballot  in- 
stead of  open  vote.  It  was  granted,  but  the  ultra  royalists 
defeated  the  measure.  From  that  time  Colonel  Schuyler 
was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  opposition  in  the  as- 
sembly, and  the  special  favorite  of  the  more  conservative 
patriots,  while  the  common  people,  regarding  him  at  a  dis- 
tance, contemplated  him  with  reverence. 

.Mr.  Lamb,  who  harangued  the  people,  at  the  Liberty 
Pole,  was  suspected  of  being  the  author  of  the  offensive 
handbill,-  and  was  cited  to  appear  before  the  assembly.  He 
was  soon  discharged,  for  the  guilt  was  fixed  by  the  fright- 
ened printer  upon  Captain  Alexander  M'Dougall,  an  ener- 
getic Scotchmen,  from  "  the  lone  Hebrides/'  a  sailor,  and 
who  afterward  became  an  active  general  in  the  Revolution. 
He  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  contempt,  and  refusing  to 
make  any  acknowledgment,  or  to  give  bail,  was  cast  into 
prison,  where  he  remained  about  fourteen  weeks,  when  he 
was  arraigned  for  trial.  With  the  true  martyr  spirit,  he 
said,  "I  rejoice  that  I  am  the  first  to  suffer  for  liberty 
since  the  commencement  of  our  glorious  struggles." 

"  The  imprisoned  sailor/'  says  Hamilton,  "  was  deemed 
the  true  type  of  an  imprisoned  commerce.  To  soften  the 
rigors  of  his  confinement,  to  evince  a  detestation  of  its  au- 
thors, and  in  his  person  to  plead  the  public  wrongs,  became 
a  duty  of  patriotism.     On  the  anniversary  of  the  repeal  of 


1770]  AN     HONORED     MARTYR.  251 

the  Stamp  Act,  his  health  was  drank  with  honors,  and  the 
meeting,  in  procession,  visited  him  in  prison.  Ladies  of  dis- 
tinction daily  thronged  there.  Popular  songs  were  written 
and  sung  under  prison  bars,  and  emblematic  swords  were 
worn.  His  name  was  upon  every  lip.  The  character  of 
each  individual  conspicuous  in  the  great  controversy  be- 
came a  subject  of  comment,  and  the  applause  which  fol- 
lowed the  name  of  Schuyler  gave  a  new  value  to  the 
popularity  his  firmness  had  acquired." * 

After  M'Dougall  had  suffered  an  imprisonment  of  more 
than  three  months,  a  grand  jury  was  packed  by  the  gov- 
ernment. De  Lancey,  the  leader  of  the  loyalists,  was  pre- 
sent at  their  sitting,  and  they  found  a  bill  of  indictment. 

"  They  have  indicted  M'Dougall,"  William  Smith  wrote  to  Schuyler, 
on  the  29th  of  April,  1770,  "and  mean  to  ruin  him  if  they  dare  dis- 
oblige the  people.  He  made  a  grand  show  yesterday  when  he  was 
brought  down  to  plead — an  immense  multitude.  He  spoke  with  vast 
propriety,  and  awed  and  astonished  many  who  wish  him  ill,  and  added, 
I  believe,  to  the  number  of  his  friends.  The  attorney  will  not  try  him 
till  October,  though  he  pressed  hard  for  a  determination  in  July.  I 
doubt  whether  it  will  ever  happen,  unless  the  spirits  of  the  people  flag, 
of  which  at  present  there  is  no  sign."t 

M'Dougall  gave  bail  at  this  time,  and  on  the  13th  of 
December  following  he  was  again  arraigned  before  the 
House.  To  the  question  whether  he  was  the  author  of  the 
handbill  signed  "  A  Son  of  Liberty,"  he  replied,  "  That  as 
the  grand  jury  and  the  assembly  had  declared  the  paper  a 
libel  he  could  not  answer  ;  that  as  he  was  under  prosecu- 
tion in  the  supreme  court,  he  conceived  it  would  be  an 
infraction  of  justice  to  punish  twice  for  one  offense  ;  but 

*  History  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  as  traced  in  the  Writings  of 
Alexander  Hamilton,  i.  35.    By  John  C.  Hamilton, 
f  Autograph  letter 


252  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  (yET.  37. 

that  he  would  not  deny  the  authority  of  the  House  to 
punish  for  a  breach  of  privilege  when  no  cognizance  was 
taken  of  it  in  another  court."  His  enemies  were  highly 
offended  h}^  this  answer,  and  it  was  declared  a  contempt. 
He  was  ably  defended  by  George  Clinton,  an  active  member 
of  the  House,  but  he  was  again  cast  into  prison,  where  he 
remained  until  near  the  close  of  the  session,  in  February, 
1771,  when  he  was  released,  and  was  never  afterward  mo- 
lested.    The  indictment  for  libel  was  never  tried. 

The  loyalist  party  gradually  gained  the  ascendancy  in 
the  Legislature  in  1770  and  1771 ;  and  the  soldiery,  regard- 
ing the  voting  of  supplies  for  their  support  as  a  triumph 
of  the  crown,  became  exceedingly  insolent.  They  resolved 
to  cut  down  the  Liberty  Pole,  and  on  the  night  of  the  16th 
of  January,  1770,  at  about  midnight,  a  band  of  them  is- 
sued from  the  barracks,  prostrated  the  mast,  sawed  it  into 
pieces,  and  piled  it  in  front  of  Montagnie's  door,  where  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  usually  assembled.  The  perpetrators  were 
discovered  before  their  work  was  finished.  The  bell  of  St. 
George's  chapel,  in  Beekman  street,  was  rung,  and  at  dawn 
full  three  thousand  indignant  people  stood  around  the 
stump  of  the  Liberty  Pole.  There,  in  the  grey  of  early 
morning,  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  by  resolution,  declared  their 
rights,  and  their  determination  to  maintain  them. 

For  three  days  the  most  intense  excitement  prevailed 
in  the  city.  In  frequent  affrays  with  the  citizens  the  sol- 
diers were  generally  the  losers  ;  and  in  a  sharp  conflict  on 
Golden  Hill  (Cliff  street  between  Fulton  street  and  Maiden 
Lane,)  several  of  the  troops  were  disarmed  and  severely 
beaten.  Few  persons  were  wounded,  none  were  killed. 
Quiet  was  restored.  The  people  erected  another  Liberty 
Pole  upon  private  ground  purchased  for  the  purpose.  This 
was  well  defended  by  iron  bands  and  rivets  full  one  half  its 


mo.]  THE     BOSTON     MASSACRE.  253 

length,  and  successfully  resisted  another  attempt  of  the 
soldiers  to  cut  it  down,  in  March.  Early  in  May  the  troops 
went  oiF  to  Boston,  and  the  greatest  cause  for  public  irri- 
tation was  thus  removed.  The  Liberty  Pole  remained  un- 
disturbed until  the  British  army  took  possession  of  the 
city  in  the  autumn  of  1776,  when  it  was  cut  down  by 
order  of  Cunningham,  the  infamous  provost  marshal,  who, 
it  was  said,  had  once  been  severely  whipped  at  its  foot. 

In  Boston  the  troops  and  the  people  were  at  variance 
continually  ;  and  finally,  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of 
March,  there  was  an  open  collision.  A  sentinel  was  as- 
saulted with  ice  and  other  missiles,  and  the  commander  of 
the  military  guard  went  with  a  file  of  soldiers  to  defend 
him.  The  mob  dared  the  soldiers  to  fire,  while  they  hurled 
missiles  at  them.  One  soldier,  who  received  a  severe  blow, 
fired,  and  six  of  his  companions  followed  his  example. 
Three  persons  were  killed,  and  five  were  dangerously 
wounded.  The  bells  rang  out  an  alarm,  and  in  less  than 
one  hour  several  thousands  of  people  were  in  the  streets. 
A  terrible  scene  of  blood  would  have  ensued  had  not  Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson  assured  the  people  that  right  and  justice 
should  be  vindicated  in  the  morning.  The  troops  were  re- 
moved to  Castle  William,  and  the  "  Boston  massacre/'  as 
it  was  called,  became  a  theme  of  thrilling  interest  to  the 
patriots  throughout  the  land. 

On  the  day  of  the  "massacre,"  Lord  North,  then  the 
prime  minister,  proposed  to  Parliament  a  repeal  of  all 
duties  imposed  by  the  act  of  1767,  except  that  upon  tea. 
In  April  an  act  to  that  effect  was  passed,  and  as  tea  was  a 
luxury,  the  ministry  supposed  that  the  Americans  would 
not  object  to  the  small  duty  laid  upon  that  article.  That 
duty  was  retained  merely  as  an  assertion  of  the  right  to 
tax  the  colonies.     That,  as  we  have  said,  was  the  bone  of 


254  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  37. 

contention.     The  principle  involved  was  the  topic  of  dis- 
pute. 

The  non-importation  agreements  were  now  brought  to 
bear  upon  this  one  excepted  article  alone,  and  the  people 
were  as  strenuous  in  the  defense  of  their  principles,  with 
only  this  item  for  complaint,  as  when  they  had  a  dozen. 

The  merchants  of  New  York,  up  to  this  time,  had  been 
faithful  to  the  non-importation  league,  and  would  have 
continued  so  but  for  a  blow  received  from  a  quarter  least 
suspected.  The  Sons  of  Liberty  had  formed  a  general 
committee  of  one  hundred,  and  a  vigilance  committee  of 
fifty,  who  were  to  have  a  special  care  of  the  public  move- 
ments of  the  patriots,  and  particularly  to  see  that  the  re- 
quirements of  the  non-importation  league  were  observed. 
The  former  committee,  like  the  assembly,  became  leavened 
with  Toryism,  and  when,  on  the  3d  of  May,  1770,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  a  manifesto  against 
alleged  violations  of  the  league  in  Newport,  Ehode  Island, 
was  adopted,  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  disavowed  it. 
This  was  the  first  open  evidence  of  defection.  Some  of  the 
more  eminent  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  immediately  withdrew 
from  the  committee.  The  Vigilance  Committee  denounced 
their  faltering  compeers,  and  the  patriots  of  New  England 
uttered  indignant  protests.  All  was  in  vain.  The  disaffec- 
tion of  the  committee  had  spread  among  the  merchants  at 
large,  and  on  the  9th  of  July,  1770,  the  Committee  of  One 
Hundred  resolved  upon  the  resumption  of  importations  of 
every  thing  but  tea,  and  issued  a  circular  letter,  justifying 
their  course.  It  was  received  with  scorn,  and  publicly  torn 
and  scattered  to  the  winds,  in  the  New  England  capital  ; 
and  the  sturdier  patriots  of  Philadelphia  said,  "  The  old 
Liberty  Pole  of  New  York  ought  to  be  transferred  to  this 


mi.]  CRINGING     LOYALTY.  255 

city,  as  it  is  no  longer  a  rallying  point  for  the  votaries  of 
freedom  at  home." 

Toward  the  close  of  August  the  leaden  statue  of  the 
King  arrived,  and  was  set  up  in  the  Bowling  Green  with 
a  great  parade  of  loyalty.  The  marble  statue  of  Pitt  was 
also  erected,  but  with  far  less  enthusiasm  than  it  was  voted; 
and  every  day  there  were  new  manifestations  of  a  luke- 
warmness  in  the  republican  feelings  of  the  colony,  as  seen 
upon  the  surface. 

Toward  the  close  of  October,  John  Murray,  Lord  Dun- 
more,  arrived  as  the  successor  of  Sir  Henry  Moore,  and  was 
received  with  great  cordiality.  He  brought  the  assent  of 
the  King  to  the  bill  authorizing  the  emission  of  a  colonial 
paper  currency  ;  also  intelligence  of  a  kindling  war  between 
Great  Britain  and  Spain.  In  his  inaugural  message  he  al- 
luded to  the  latter,  and  expressed  his  confidence  that  the  as- 
sembly would  "  please  his  Majesty  by  their  loyalty  during 
the  anticipated  contest."  His  lordship  closed  his  speech  with 
the  oft-repeated  admonition  of  the  royal  governors,  that  sup- 
plies for  the  troops  would  be  wanting.  The  assembly  was 
exceedingly  complaisant,  and  Dunmore  had  the  gratification 
of  seeing  evidence  of  a  pliant  and  loyal  Legislature,  by  which 
he  would  be  saved  the  perplexities  that  had  afflicted  his  pre- 
decessors for  almost  half  a  century. 

Dunmore  remained  at  New  York  only  about  nine 
months,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Sir  William  Tryon,  an 
Irish  baronet,  who  for  a  few  years  had  exercised  the  most 
annoying  petty  tyranny  as  the  governor  of  North  Carolina. 
The  assembly  was  now  thoroughly  purged  of  the  radical 
features  of  republicanism.  They  complimented  the  retir- 
ing governor,  who  had  been  transferred  to  Virginia;  and  in 
a  most  cringing  address,  written  by  Captain  Oliver  De 
Lancey,  in  reply  to  Tryon's  message  at  the  opening  of  the 


256  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt  39. 

assembly,  on  the  7th  of  January,  1772,  welcomed  the  new- 
chief  magistrate.  This  address  appears  the  more  abject 
when  we  reflect  that  the  base  character  of  Tryon,  whose 
outrageous  conduct  had  stirred  up  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  to  actual  rebellion,  was  well  known,  and  every 
true  friend  of  the  province  despised  him  and  deplored  his 
advent. 

"  Our  most  gracious  sovereign,"  said  the  address,  "  having  been 
pleased  to  confer  the  command  of  his  dominion  of  Virginia  on  our  late 
worthy  governor,  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  who  so  justly  merited  our  af- 
fection and  applause,  we  are  all  rilled  with  the  warmest  sentiments  of 
gratitude  for  his  Majesty's  paternal  goodness,  in  appointing  to  represent 
his  royal  person  a  gentleman  universally  esteemed  for  his  amiable  char- 
acter, distinguished  for.  his  attachment  to  the  principles  of  our  happy 
constitution,  and  from  his  long  residence  in  America,  acquainted  with 
the  true  interests  of  the  colonies. 

"  The  respectable  light  in  which  your  excellency  was  held  among 
the  people  who  lately  experienced  the  solid  advantages  of  your  protec- 
tion affords  us  a  pleasing  presage  of  being  equally  happy  under  your 
administration.  Preferring  the  calls  of  duty  and  the  public  good  to  your 
own  ease,  health,  and  every  other  consideration,  you  generously  ex- 
posed your  person  to  fatigue  and  the  most  imminent  dangers,  and  by 
your  gallant  behavior  and  prudent  conduct  rescued  a  distracted  country 
from  anarchy  and  confusion,  and  restored  to  it  the  blessings  of  peace 
and  tranquility,  by  suppressing  an  insurrection,  which,  by  its  pernicious 
example,  might  have  caused  th$  like  disorders  in  other  parts  of  his  Ma- 
jesty'u  American  dominions,  to  the  destruction  of  all  law  and  govern- 
ment. This  important  service,  while  it  gives  luster  to  your  character, 
recommends  you  to  the  favor  of  our  most  gracious  sovereign,  and  enti- 
tles you  to  public  gratitude  and  approbation,  has  unavoidably  prevented 
your  excellency  from  paying  an  earlier  obedience  to  the  King's  com- 
mands and  the  dictates  of  your  own  wishes  in  repairing  to  this  colony." 

During  the  years  1770  and  1771,  Colonel  Schuyler  was 
almost  continually  afflicted  with  the  gout,  and  he  seldom 
appeared  in  the  assembly.  Yet  it  did  not  prevent  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  hospitality  in  his  houses  at  Albany  and  Sara- 
toga—  the  former  his  place  of  residence  in  the  winter,  the 
latter  his  better  loved  dwelling  place  nearly  nine  of  the 


1*7*71.]  GREEN     MOUNTAIN     BOYS.  257 

other  months  of  the  year.  Numerous  letters  of  that  period 
show  how  freely  his  friends  gave  notes  of  introduction  to 
him,  commending  sometimes  utter  strangers  to  his  courtesy 
and  hospitality. 

During  these  two  years  the  dispute  between  the  authori- 
ties of  New  York  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Grants  waxed  hotter  than  at  any  other  period.  A 
crisis  approached.  Officers  of  the  law  in  behalf  of  New 
York  and  the  determined  people  of  the  Grants  met  face  to 
face.  A  resident  of  the  Grants  was  taken  to  Albany  for  trial 
in  a  suit  of  ejectment.  The  decision  in  his  case  was  to  effect 
all  others,  and  Ethan  Allen  was  employed,  as  the  agent  of 
the  people,  to  attend  the  court  and  defend  their  claims.  The 
whole  affair  seemed  to  have  been  prejudged,  and  presented 
a  solemn  farce,  for  some  of  the  New  York  judges  and  many 
of  the  lawyers  were  connected  with  the  speculators.  The 
verdict  was,  of  course,  in  favor  of  the  New  York  com- 
plainants. 

Allen  was  exceedingly  indignant.  The  sun  went  down 
upon  his  wrath,  and  in  the  morning  it  was  not  abated. 
The  attorney  general  at  first  tried  to  flatter  the  sturdy 
pioneer.  He  then  advised  hinf  to  go  home  and  persuade 
his  friends  to  make  the  best  terms  possible  with  their  New 
York  landlords;  and  concluded  his  exhortation  by  suggest- 
ing that  New  York  had  might  on  her  side.  That  suggestion 
thoroughly  aroused  the  sleeping  lion  of  Allen's  nature,  and 
in  his  accustomed  enigmatical  way  he  thundered  out,  "  The 
gods  of  the  valleys  are  not  the  gods  of  the  hills  1"  "  What 
do  you  mean  ?"  exclaimed  the  startled  attorney  general. 
"  Come  to  Bennington,"  said  Allen,  with  a  frown,  and  in 
a  deep  undertone,  "  and  you  shall  understand  it." 

From  that  time  reconciliation  without  ample  justice 
was  out  of  the  question.   The  people  of  the  Grants  resolved 


258  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEr.  38. 

to  defend  their  rights  "  by  force,"  they  said,  "  as  law  and 
justice  were  denied  them."  They  assembled  in  convention 
and  made  Allen  colonel  commandant  of  the  district.  He 
became  the  leader  of  an  organized  armed  resistance,  and 
was  a  marked  man.  The  authorities  of  New  York  regarded 
him  as  a  traitor,  and  offered  a  reward  for  his  apprehension. 
The  people  of  the  Grants  regarded  him  as  a  patriot,  and 
kept  him  safely  in  the  arms  of  their  protection.  The  New 
York  authorities  declared  him  an  outlaw,  while  his  own 
people  leaned  upon  him  as  their  noblest  champion.  So 
matters  went  on,  the  dangers  of  civil  war  becoming  more 
and  more  imminent.  The  quarrel  had  reached  the  point 
of  bloody  encounters,  when  the  kindling  flame  of  the  great 
^Revolution  called  the  attention  of  the  contestants  to  a 
broader  and  more  significant  field  of  conflict,  in  which  the 
people  of  New  York  and  of  the  Grants  stood  shoulder  to 
shoulder  as  brethren. 

In  the  progress  of  these  disputes  Colonel  Schuyler  still 
took  a  great  interest.  His  sense  of  justice  made  him 
discriminate  between  right  and  wrong,  notwithstanding 
his  indignation  against  the  people  of  the  Grants,  who 
had  taken  law  into  their  ^>wn  hands  ;  and,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  refractory  tenants  of  Van  Kensselaer,  in  after  years, 
he  recommended  moderation,  at  the  same  time  he  coun- 
seled firmness. 

The  boundary  line  between  New  York  and  Massachu- 
setts was  still  an  unsettled  question,  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1771,  Colonel  Schuyler,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  went  to 
Boston  in  a  semi-official  capacity  to  confer  with  the  au- 
thorities there  upon  the  subject.  He  found  matters  in 
such  a  disturbed  state  that  it  was  difficult  to  ascertain 
where,  real  authority  might  be  found.  However,  as  Hutch- 
inson was  governor,  with  him  he  had  a  long  and  friendly 


1771.]  CONCILIATION.  259 

interview,  and  came  back  with  a  proposition  to  Governor 
Tryon  which  seemed  to  promise  a  salutary  result.  Soon 
afterward  William  Smith,  who  was  the  leading  member  of 
Tryon's  council,  wrote  to  Colonel  Schuyler,  saying  :  "  Mr. 
Tryon  has  taken  strong  hold  on  the  Boston  controversy  on 
your  motion.  I  have  drawn  up  a  letter  for  him  to  Hutch- 
inson, and  proposed  to  divide  the  stakes  between  the  two 
ultimate  proposals  at  New  Haven." 

In  the  same  letter  Mr.  Smith  introduces  the  Keverend 
Mr.  Drummond  as  Schuyler's  "spiritual  guide  at  Sarah- 
togue,"  who,  he  said,  bore  ample  testimonials  of  worth. 
"  I  think  it  a  good  circumstance/'  says  Smith,  "  that  he 
was  ordained  in  Scotland,  for  you  know  that  national  es- 
tablishment is  closely  connected  with  that  of  the  Nether- 
lands." With  an  eye  to  temporal  benefits,  Smith  continues, 
"  Mr.  Drummond  is  said  to  be  a  good  scholar,  and  may  be 
useful  to  your  boys.  I  think  he  will  be  so  to  the  public, 
as  he  can  promote  emigration  from  divers  parts  of  North 
Britain."  He  concludes  by  saying,  "  If  you  think  him  good 
enough  for  the  illuminated  tenants  of  Sarah togue,  you  '11 
find  him  liberal  in  his  sentiments  and  yet  orthodox  in  his 
life,  which  is  the  best  sort  of  orthodoxy."* 

Colonel  Schuyler  was  present  at  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion, on  the  7th  of  January,  1772,  and  on  the  16th  he 
moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  vacate  the  seat  of  any 
member  unless  he  had  resided  six  months  previous  to  the 
election  within  the  district  which"  he  represented.  This 
subject  had  been  introduced  in  the  spring  of  1769,  when, 
by  resolution,  Philip  Livingston  was  "  dismissed  from  fur- 
ther attendance  upon  the  House"  as  representative  of  Liv- 
ingston's Manor,  because  he  resided  in  the  city  of  New 
York.     A  petition  of  the  freeholders  of  the  Manor  set 

*  Autograph  letter. 


260  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  B9 

forth  that  non-residents  represented  boroughs  in  England  ; 
that  twenty-one  cases  like  the  present  might  be  found  re- 
corded in  the  colonial  journals  ;  and  that  the  manor  of 
Livingston  had  been  thus  represented  for  fifty-three  years. 
It  also  appeared  that  three  dismissals  of  the  kind  had  oc- 
curred, under  the  management  of  party  tactics,  namely,  of 
William  Nicoll  and  Dirck  Wessels,  in  1701,  and  of  Edward 
Holland,  in  1745.  The  resolution  was  passed  by  a  large 
majority,  and  Livingston  was  deprived  of  his  seat.  Schuy- 
ler voted  against  it.  He  approved  of  the  principle  of  the 
resolution,  but  disliked  partial  legislation.  Now  he  intro- 
duced a  general  bill  for  accomplishing  the  same  effect. 

The  assembly,  at  the  session  of  1772,  were  as  pliant  as 
ever,  and  supplies  for  the  troops  were  freely  voted.  In 
February  the  governor,  in  a  brief  message,  refused  to  re- 
ceive a  salary  from  the  colonial  treasury.  This  was  pur- 
suant to  instructions  received  from  ministers,  Parliament, 
by  a  special  act,  having  made  the  governors  and  judges  in 
the  colonies  independent  of  the  people  in  this  respect. 
The  Massachusetts  assembly  at  once  denounced  the  act  as 
a  bribe  to  the  governors  to  oppose  the  people  whenever  or- 
dered to  do  so  by  the  crown.  In  other  colonial  assemblies, 
also,  the  act  was  denounced,  but  there  being  a  majority  of 
loyalists  in  that  of  New  York,  no  action  was  taken  in  the 
matter.  On  the  contrary,  a  special  mark  of  affection  was 
shown  to  Tryon.  A  division  of  Albany  county  being  made 
at  that  time,  the  new  territory,  taken  from  its  western  fron- 
tier, was  called  Tryon  county,  in  honor  of  the  governor. 
The  first  representatives  in  the  assembly  from  the  new 
county  were  Guy  Johnson  (son  of  Sir  William),  and  Col- 
onel Hendrick  Frey. 

On  the  24th  of  March  the  assembly  was  prorogued  by 
the  governor  until  the  4th  of  May  following.     By  procla- 


rtfl]  ALMOST     A     DUEL.  2G1 

mations  it  was  prorogued  from  time  to  time,  and  did  not 
meet  again  until  the  5th  of  January,  1773.  The  gov- 
ernor's speech  on  that  occasion  related  chiefly  to  the  terri- 
torial boundaries;  and  the  response  drawn  up  hy  De  Lancey 
was  only  an  echo  to  it,  except  an  assurance  that  in  the  col- 
ony there  was  an  increasing  attachment  to  the  governor's 
person  and  family. 

Among  Colonel  Schuyler's  most  intimate  friends  in 
early  life  was  Henry  Van  Schaack,  who  had  served  with 
him  in  the  campaign  of  1755  as  4iis  lieutenant.  When 
the  war  of  the  Revolution  broke  out,  Mr.  Van  Schaack 
was  a  Loyalist.  For  several  years  he  and  Colonel  Schuyler 
had  differed  in  their  political  opinions.  Their  personal 
friendship  appears  to  have  been  undisturbed,  however,  until 
in  1772,  when  a  misunderstanding  came  very  nearly  causing 
a  duel  between  the  two  friends.  It  seems  that  Colonel 
Schuyler  had  reported  to  Colonel  Guy  Johnson  (upon  er- 
roneous information,)  that  Major  Van  Schaack  had  at- 
tempted to  influence  the  action  of  officers  who  had  been 
appointed  to  summon  a  jury  in  an  important  land  trial 
before  the  supreme  court,  in  which  controversy  the  two 
gentlemen  were  probably  interested.  Van  Schaack  and 
Schuyler  were  of  about  the  same  age,  and  much  alike  in 
disposition.  They  were  men  of  high  spirit  and  marked 
energy  of  character,  entertaining  exalted  perceptions  of 
personal  honor,  and  each  jealous  of  his  reputation.  The 
former  was  somewhat  impetuous  in  temper,  and  the  latter 
was  described  as  "  hot,  violent,  and  indiscreet,"  when  his 
reputation  was  assailed  or  his  honor  impugned. 

On  being  informed  of  Schuyler's  report  to  Johnson, 
Van  Schaack,  conscious  of  his  integrity,  indignantly  de- 
manded of  his  accuser  his  authority  for  the  aspersions,  and 
a  personal  explanation.     Schuyler,  with  his  usual  frank- 


262  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  39 

ness,  generosity,  and  sense  of  justice,  sent  him  a  letter  from 
Saratoga,  in  which  he  explained  the  matter  and  asked  Van 
Schaack's  pardon.  He  concluded  by  saying,  "  Be  assured, 
sir,  that  I  shall  never  decline  a  personal  explanation  (in 
whatever  sense  you  may  use  the  word)  that  you  may  think 
proper  to  call  on  me  for.  You  know  where  to  find  me,  and 
I  shall  be  at  Albany  about  the  25th  of  next  month." 

Although  the  friendship  of  these  gentlemen  was  inter- 
rupted for  several  years  by  conflicting  interests  in  regard  to 
land  patents,  and  the  difference  in  their  political  sentiments 
during  the  Kevolution,  it  was  renewed  immediately  after 
the  war,  and  continued  through  life.* 

So  gentlemanly  and  dignified  were  the  manners  of 
Schuyler  in  public  and  private,  that,  notwithstanding  his 
firm  hostility  to  the  anti-republican  measures  with  which 
he  was  called  from  time  to  time  to  combat,  he  was  on  terms 
of  the  most  intimate  personal  friendship  with  his  political 
adversaries.  In  May,  1772,  we  find  Governor  Tryon,  writ- 
ing to  him  from  Fort  George,  in  New  York,  saying  : 

"  Mrs.  Tryon  desires  me  to  present  her  compliments  to  you,  and  to 
inform  you  that  she  accepts  the  invitation  of  becoming  your  guest  while 
at  Albany.  As  you  are  well  acquainted  with  the  passage  of  vessels  to 
Albany,  and  know  in  which  I  can  be  best  accommodated,  I  must  give 
you  the  trouble  to  employ  one  for  me,  and  to  be  here  time  enough  to 
land  me  at  Albany  toward  the  end  of  June."t 

The  chief  object  of  Governor  Tryon's  visit  northward 
was  to  hold  a  council  with  some  of  the  Mohawk  Indians, 
who  had  made  complaints  of  the  conduct  of  white  people, 
who,  it  was  alleged,  had  defrauded  them  of  their  lands. 
The  conference  was  held  at  Johnson  Hall,  on  the  28th  of 

*  MS.  "  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Henry  Van  Schaak,  an  officer  in  the  war 
which  subjected  the  Canadas  to  the  British  crown;  a  Loyalist  in  the  American 
Revolution,  and  a  Gentleman  of  the  Old  School"  by  H.  C.  Van  Schaack. 

f  Autograph  letter. 


1773.]  LAND     SPECULATORS.  263 

July,  and  the  savages  in  attendance  were  mostly  Canajo- 
haries.  Tryon  was  accompanied  by  his  secretary,  Colonel 
Edmund  Fanning,  (who  had  made  himself  very  obnoxious 
in  North  Carolina,)  and  Oliver  De  Lancey. 

Whatever  professions  the  governor  may  have  made  to 
the  Indians,  he  seemed  perfectly  willing  to  sanction  all 
purchases  of  land,  by  fair  or  foul  means,  we  may  imagine, 
and  did  not  appear  less  "  The  Great  Wolf"  to  them,  if 
they  understood  him,  than  he  did  to  their  red  brethren  of 
Western  Carolina,  who  gave  him  that  name  because  he  ap- 
peared so  voracious.  In  a  familiar  letter  to  William  Duer, 
in  September  following,  Colonel  Schuyler  said  : 

"  Vast  Indian  purchases  have  been  made.  Governor  Tryon's  fees, 
alone,  will  exceed  £22,000 ;  a  good  summer's  work  that.  A  large  pre- 
mium is  offered  by  the  land  jobbers  at  New  York  to  any  ingenious  ar- 
tist who  shall  contrive  a  machine  to  waft  them  to  the  moon,  should 
Ferguson,  Martin,  or  any  eminent  astronomer  assert  that  they  had  dis- 
covered large  vales  of  fine  land  in  that  luminary.  I  would  apply  to  be 
a  commissioner  for  granting  the  land,  if  I  knew  to  whom  to  apply 
for  it."* 

Governor  Tryon  was  absent  in  the  Indian  country  about 
a  month,  and  during  that  time  his  wife,  who  was  a  relative 
of  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  was  the  guest  of  Colonel 
Schuyler  and  his  family  at  Albany  and  Saratoga.  In  a 
letter  to  the  Earl  after  his  return,  Tryon  spoke  of  the  con- 
ten  tedness  of  the  settlers  at  Johnstown,  Burnet's  Field, 
and  the  German  Flats,  who  were  "  not  less  seemingly 
pleased  with  the  presence  of  their  governor  than  he  was 
with  them/'  and  said,  "  I  heartily  wish  the  eastern  parts 
of  the  province  [referring  to  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,] 
were  as  peaceably  settled."")* 

Colonel  Schuyler  was  in  good  health  during  the  session 
of  1773,  and  was  very  active  in  his  official  duties.     In 

*  Autograph  letter,  September  21,  1773.  f  Autograph  letter. 


264  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  4u. 

January  we  find  him  one  of  the  committee  to  examine 
into  the  condition  of  the  colonial  treasury  accounts.  Early 
in  February  he  presented  a  bill  in  relation  to  the  commis- 
sion for  settling  the  boundary  line  between  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  then  in  dispute,  On  the  day  of  its  passage 
(February  5,)  he  offered  a  bill,  as  a  substitute  for  another 
drawn  by  a  committee  "  to  remedy  the  evils  to  which  the 
colony  was  exposed  from  the  quantities  of  counterfeit 
money  introduced  into  it."  He  proposed  to  have  plates  for 
the  paper  currency  of  the  colony  engraved  in  a  manner  that 
should  be  difficult  to  counterfeit.  He  suggested  as  a  device 
"  an  eye  in  a  cloud — a  cart  and  coffins — three  felons  on  a 
gallows — a  weeping  father  and  mother,  with  several  small 
children — a  burning  pit — human  figures  poured  into  it  by 
fiends,  and  a  label  with  these  words  :  '  Let  the  name  of  the 
counterfeiter  rot,"  etc.,  and  such  other  additions  as  they 
might  think  proper  :  44,000  to  be  struck  off  on  thin  paper, 
"to  be  pasted,  glued,  or  affixed  to  each  of  the  bills  emitted 
by  the  act"  for  the  purpose.  He  proposed  that  the  en- 
graver and  printer  should  make  oaths  that  the  plates  had 
not  been  out  of  their  hands  ;  the  plates,  when  the  printing 
should  be  done,  to  be  sealed  up  and  given  to  the  treasurer 
of  the  colony  ;  the  treasurer  to  give  the  commissioners  a 
receipt  for  the  paper  copies  struck  off ;  no  bill  to  be  con- 
sidered genuine  without  such  paper  upon  its  back  ;  com- 
missioners to  take  oath  of  fidelity  ;  and  a  reward  to  be 
given  for  the  detection  of  counterfeiters.  This  bill  became 
a  law,  and  was  effectual  in  restraining  rogues  from  com- 
mitting a  crime  whose  penalty  was  death. 

Later  in  February  the  subject  of  the  dispute  between 
New  York  and  the  New  Hampshire  Grants  was  brought 
before  the  House,  in  considering  a  petition  from  a  resident 
of  the  latter  territory.     A  committee  was  appointed,  with 


1773.]  REPORT     ON     BOUNDARIES.  265 

Colonel  Schuyler  as  chairman,  to  prepare  a  full  statement 
of  "  the  just  rights  of  New  York  in  the  matter."  Schuy- 
ler's associates  were  Mr.  De  Noyelles  and  Orean  Bush,  both 
warm  loyalists.  The  task  of  preparing  the  statement  was 
laid  upon  Colonel  Schuyler,  and  three  weeks  afterward  they 
made  a  report  which  excited  a  great  deal  of  attention  be- 
cause of  its  fullness  and  remarkable  perspicuity.  It  first 
examined  the  whole  matter  historically,  citing  authorities, 
etc.  The  claims  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  were 
next  examined,  and  having,  as  the  report  averred,  "  estab- 
lished the  right  of  New  York  to  the  disputed  territory 
west  of  the  Connecticut  river,"  they  examined  "  the  extra- 
ordinary claim  of  New  Hampshire."  This  statement  occu- 
pies no  less  than  twenty-six  printed  pages  of  the  published 
journal  of  the  House.  It  was  sent  to  Edmund  Burke,  the 
agent  of  the  colony  in  England,  and  a  few  months  later 
Governor  Tryon  was  cited  to  appear  before  the  King  and 
his  council,  to  give  information  respecting  the  boundary 
troubles. 

This  statement  was  the  production,  chiefly,  of  James 
Duane,  but  Colonel  Schuyler  being  the  chairman  of  the 
committee,  it  was  attributed  to  him.  It  was  this,  more 
than  anything  else,  that  excited  bitter  feelings  toward 
him  among  the  New  England  people,  which,  as  we  have 
already  observed,  was  made  so  manifest  in  the  war  for  in- 
dependence. 

13 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

In  the  summer  of  1773  the  county  of  Charlotte  was 
formed.  It  embraced  all  of  northern  New  York  above 
Albany  county  as  then  divided,  eastward  of  the  new  county 
of  Tryon  ;  and  it  was  the  design  of  Colonel  Schuyler's 
friends  to  make  him  the  first  judge  of  that  district,  with 
two  associates.  Political  intrigue  seems  to  have  thwarted 
this  design.     In  July  Councillor  Smith  wrote  to  him  : 

"  We  have  organized  the  county  of  Charlotte.  It  was  left  to  Oliver 
[De  Lancey]  to  speak  to  Colonel  Keid  and  others,  and  form  a  list  of  jus- 
tices, for  it  was  long  ago  settled  in  council  that  the  judges  should  be 
yourself,  Skene,  and  Duer,  in  the  order  I  mention  them.  I  learnt  from 
Keid  that  he,  Oliver,  and  Duer  waited  upon  the  governor  with  a  list  not 
only  of  justices  but  of  judges,  and  that  Skene  was  put  at  the  head  of  it. 
Oliver  dictated  this  order  to  Duer,  who  held  the  pen.  But  all  is  set 
right  I  believe.  The  governor  was  displeased  with  this  liberty,  and  de- 
clared that  you  would  not  serve  out  of  the  place  first  designated  and 
known  abroad.  All  this  is  entre  nous,  but  you  will  get  it  from  Duer. 
I  told  Fanning  that  in  my  opinion  Skene  should  be  last,  if  named  at  all. 
You  see  the  man,  after  all  his  professions  of  friendship."* 

De  Lancey's  will  prevailed.  Schuyler,  as  the  governor 
predicted,  would  not  take  a  subordinate  station  upon  the 
bench,  and  he  wTas  left  in  the  field  of  politics,  untrameled 
by  official  restraints,  to  serve  his  country  more  profitably 
than  if  wearing  the  mantle  of  judicial  dignity. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  fuel  was  added  to  the  kind- 
ling fires  of  the  Kevolution  by  the  folly  of  the  British  gov- 

*  Autograph  letter,  July  5,  1773. 


1773.]  ANTI-TEA     PASTY.  267 

ernment.  Early  in  1773  a  new  thought  upon  taxation  en- 
tered the  brain  of  Lord  North.  The  East  India  Company, 
a  powerful  monopoly  of  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  duration,  felt  most  seriously  the  operation  of  the 
non-importation  associations  in  America,  by  which  tea,  the 
trade  in  which  belonged  exclusively  to  the  company,  was 
deprived  of  a  market  in  the  American  colonies.  They 
found  themselves  burdened  with  more  than  seventeen  mil- 
lions of  pounds  of  tea  in  their  warehouses  in  England. 
Unable  to  pay  their  annual  bonus  to  the  crown,  or  their 
private  debts,  the  company  sought  relief  in  a  permission  to 
ship  their  teas,  free  of  duty,  wherever  they  could  find  a 
market,  promising  the  government  an  export  duty  more 
than  equal  in  amount.  The  stupid  ministry  could  not 
perceive,  or  would  not  embrace,  the  opportunity  now  of- 
fered to  quiet  America  and  add  to  the  exchequer ;  but, 
fearing  such  concession  might  be  considered  submission 
to  "  rebellious  subjects/'  gave  the  company  permission  to 
ship  their  teas  free  of  export  duty.  As  this  would  make 
tea  cheaper  in  America  than  in  England,  it  was  thought 
the  colonists  would  not  object  to  paying  a  small  import 
duty  of  three  pence  a  pound.  But  the  proposition  increased 
the  indignation  of  the  colonists.  They  saw  the  parent  gov- 
ernment making  concessions  of  a  pecuniary  nature  to  a 
vast  commercial  monopoly,  while  spurning  the  appeals  of 
a  nation  in  behalf  of  a  great  principle. 

The  East  India  Company  were  as  blind  as  the  minis- 
ters, and  soon  after  the  passage  of  a  bill  in  accordance  with 
North's  proposition,  in  May,  1773,  several  of  their  heaviest 
tea-ships,  fully  laden  with  the  herb,  were  on  their  way  to 
America.  Information  of  the  fact  reached  the  colonies 
some  time  before  any  of  the  tea-ships  arrived  ;  and  at  no 
time  since  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  popular  in- 


268  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  40. 

dignation  hotter,  and  the  spirit  of  defiance  more  rampant. 
It  was  resolved  by  the  people  in  the  principal  seaport  towns 
that  the  tea  should  not  be -landed,  and  appointed  consignees 
were  warned  not  to  disregard  the  popular  will  by  receiving 
it.  The  Sons  of  Liberty  became  exceedingly  active,  and 
late  in  the  autumn  a  formal  reorganization  of  the  societies 
took  place.  Their  correspondence  was  renewed,  and  plans 
were  concerted  to  destroy  the  tea  should  the  consignees 
persist  in  having  the  cargoes  landed. 

Two  of  the  tea-ships  first  arrived  at  Boston  at  the  close 
of  November,  and  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the  people 
the  vessels  were  moored  at  a  wharf,  with  a  guard  of  twenty- 
five  men  stationed  near,  to  see  that  none  of  the  obnoxious 
article  was  landed.  Finally,  the  people,  at  a  public  meet- 
ing, ordered  the  commanders  of  the  vessels  to  leave  the 
port  and  proceed  to  sea  with  their  cargoes.  The  governor 
interfered,  and  took  measures  to  prevent  their  sailing. 
This  aroused  public  indignation  to  the  highest  pitch,  and 
on  a  cold  moonlight  evening,  the  16th  of  December,  a 
crowd  rushed  from  an  excited  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall  at 
the  signal  of  a  savage  war-whoop,  some  disguised  as  Mo- 
hawk Indians,  and  boarding  the  ships,  broke  open  the  tea 
chests  and  cast  the  whole  of»the  cargoes  into  the  waters  of 
the  harbor. 

In  New  York  the  excitement  was  equally  great.  At  a 
public  meeting,  held  on  the  20th  of  October,  it  was  de- 
clared that  tea  consignees  and  stamp  distributors  were 
equally  obnoxious;  and  they  denounced  the  importation  of 
tea  so  emphatically  that  some  of  the  commission  mer- 
chants in  London  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
shipment  of  the  article.  A  New  Yorker,  named  Kelley, 
canvassing  for  a  seat  in  Parliament  as  representative  of  one 
of  the  English  boroughs,  ridiculed  the  reported  indignation 


1773.] 


POPULAR     COMMOTIONS.  269 


of  the  Americans,  and  gave  assurances  that  no  clanger  need 
be  apprehended  from  their  ire.  His  offense  was  noted  at 
home,  and  on  the  5th  of  November  he  was  burned  in  effigy 
in  front  of  the  Coffee  House,  in  Wall  street. 

Concert  of  action  in  different  cities  was  evinced  by  the 
fact  that  on  the  25th  of  November,  the  "  Mohawks"  of 
New  York  city  were  notified  to  be  in  readiness  for  duty  on 
the  arrival  of  expected  tea-ships  ;  and  we  find  the  name  of 
"  Mohawks"  connected  with  similar  movements  elsewhere. 
On  the  29th,  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  formally  reorganized, 
and  passed  strong  resolutions  of  warning  to  all  who  should 
in  any  way  be  concerned  in  the  reception  of  tea,  or  even  of 
harboring  it  should  any  be  landed. 

Governor  Try  on  declared  that  the  tea  should  be  deliv- 
ered to  the  consignees,  even  if  it  was  to  be  "sprinkled  with 
blood."  This  declaration  was  repeated  by  an  officer  of  the 
crown  in  the  presence  of  several  Sons  of  Liberty,  when 
John  Lamb,  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  patriots,  said, 
"  Tell  Tryon,  for  me,  that  the  tea  shall  not  be  landed  ; 
and  if  force  is  attempted  to  effect  it,  his  blood  will  be  the 
first  shed  in  the  contest.  The  people  of  the  city  are  firmly 
resolved  on  that  head."*  The  governor  undoubtedly  re- 
ceived the  message,  and,  taking  counsel  of  his  fears  or  his 
prudence,  wisely  refrained  from  interfering  in  the  matter. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  the  day  after  the  tea  was 
destroyed  in  Boston  harbor,  and  before  intelligence  of  the 
event  could  have  reached  New  York,  a  large  concourse  of 
people  assembled  in  "  the  fields,"  pursuant  to  a  public  call, 
and  were  addressed  by  Mr.  Lamb.  Strong  resolutions  in 
favor  of  resistance  were  passed,  and  a  committee  of  fifteen 
were  appointed  to  correspond  with  their  friends  in  other 
places.   While  the  business  of  the  meeting  was  in  progress, 

*  Leake's  Life  of  Lamb,  p.  78. 


270  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  41 

the  mayor  and  recorder  of  the  city  appeared,  bringing  as- 
surances from  Governor  Tryon  that  when  the  tea  should 
arrive  it  should  be  publicly  taken  into  the  fort,  kept  there 
until  the  proper  orders  for  its  distribution  by  the  King, 
the  council,  or  the  owners,  should  be  given,  and  then  it 
should  be  sent  out  as  publicly  as  it  was  taken  in.  Lamb 
saw  through  the  artifice.  The  act  of  Parliament  demanded 
payment  of  the  duties  when  the  article  should  be  landed  ; 
and  Lamb  warned  the  people  that  suffering  the  tea  to  be 
brought  on  shore  at  all  would  be  an  infraction  of  their 
solemn  resolves  and  the  pledges  of  the  non-importation 
league.  He  then  put  the  question,  Shall  the  tea  be 
landed  ?  when  there  was  a  most  emphatic  response,  thrice 
repeated,  No  !  The  meeting  then  adjourned  "  till  the  ar- 
rival of  the  tea-ships." 

During  the  period  of  excitement  concerning  the  tea- 
ships  Colonel  Schuyler  was  confined  to  his  house  most  of 
the  time  with  the  gout,  and  was  not  in  New  York  during 
the  session  which  commenced  on  the  6th  of  January,  1774, 
and  ended  on  the  19th  of  March  following. 

"  We  have  finished  a  long  and  disagreeable  session,"  wrote  Council- 
lor Smith,  "  in  which  I  wish  you  had  taken  a  part,  not  because  I  wish 
you  trouble,  but  that  you  might  have  shared  in  the  credit  which  Clin- 
ton* has  acquired  in  the  course  of  it.  There  is  a  surprising  change  both 
within  doors  and  without,  the  spirit  of  party  being  in  disgrace,  to  the 
confusion  of  those  who  led  it,  and  found  it  necessary  to  the  continuation 
of  their  power  that  the  people  should  not  recover  their  senses.  Their 
impatience  under  a  governor  who  scorned  to  be  purchased  excited  them 
to  another  effort  to  humble  him,  but  they  found  themselves  baffled  in 

*  George  Clinton,  one  of  the  most  efficient  men  during  the  Revolution,  as 
brigadier  general,  and  as  governor  of  the  State,  had  taken  a  decided  republi- 
can stand,  with  Schuyler,  during  the  two  preceding  sessions.  He  had  studied 
law  with  Mr.  Smith,  and  was  now  only  twenty-five  years  of  age.  The 
troubled  sea  of  polities  was  consonant  with  his  nature,  and  he  entered  upon 
it  with  zeal. 


1774.]  NEW     PARTIES.  271 

our  House,  as  they  were  before  by  your  good  management  in  the  as- 
sembly."* 

At  that  time  political  affairs  were  in  the  greatest  con- 
fusion. There  were  so  many  side  issues  continually  pre- 
senting themselves,  that  loyalists  upon  one  question  to-day 
were  found  to  be  republicans  upon  another  question  to- 
morrow ;  and  even  Schuyler,  staunch  Whig  as  he  was,  was 
sometimes  suspected  of  leaning  toward  the  crown  and  the 
aristocracy  by  those  who  could  not  comprehend  the  pro- 
priety of  personal  friendship  with  political  opponents,  and 
because  of  his  conservatism. 

Among  the  people  loyalty  and  timidity  developed  bit- 
ter fruits  which  distracted  the  Revolutionary  committees, 
and  by  adroit  management  moderate  men  and  royalists 
gained  the  ascendancy.  Afraid  openly  to  oppose  the  popu- 
lar will,  they  insidiously  cast  obstacles  in  the  way  of  effi- 
cient cooperation  with  other  colonies.  Two  distinct  parties 
were  formed  among  professed  republicans,  marked  by  a  line 
of  social  distinction — the  Patricians  and  the  Tribunes,  as 
they  were  called — the  merchants  and  the  gentry,  and  the 
mechanics.     We  shall  refer  to  this  matter  again  presently. 

The  assembly  and  the  governor  were  upon  amicable 
terms  during  the  session  of  1774.  At  midnight,  at  the 
the  close  of  1773,  the  government  house  in  the  fort  took 
fire.  The  flames  spread  so  rapidly  that  the  governor's 
family  escaped  with  difficulty,  and  a  servant  girl,  sixteen 
years  of  age,  perished  in  the  flames.  The  governor  lost  all 
of  his  personal  effects.  In  his  opening  speech  to  the  as- 
sembly he  laid  the  matter  before  them,  and  in  addition  to 
making  provisions  for  rebuilding  the  province  house,  they' 
voted  him  a  present  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  consid- 
eration of  his  misfortune. 

*  Autograph  letter,  March  22,  1774. 


272  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  41. 

Late  in  January  the  assembly  appointed  another  stand- 
ing committee  of  correspondence,*  to  hold  communion  with 
the  assemblies  of  other  provinces  on  the  great  political 
questions  of  the  day.  In  the  New  York  Legislature,  and 
among  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  committees  had  been  in  oper- 
ation for  several  years,  but  Legislative  Committees,  for  in- 
tercolonial communication  upon  the  rights  of  the  people, 
had  been  suggested  by  Massachusetts,  on  motion  of  Sam- 
uel Adams,  and  acted  upon  by  Virginia  only  during  the 
preceding  year. 

Appropriate  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  New  York 
assembly  when  the  committee  was  appointed,  and  the 
Speaker  was  instructed  to  prepare  drafts  of  letters  to  the 
Speakers  of  all  the  colonial  assemblies  on  the  continent, 
inclosing  these  resolutions,  and  requesting  them  to  lay 
them  before  their  respective  Legislatures.  They  also,  by 
resolution,  thanked  the  Virginia  Burgesses  "  for  their  early 
attention  to  the  liberties  of  America." 

In  his  opening  message  Governor  Tryon  had  informed 
the  assembly  that  he  was  about  to  leave  for  England  on  ac- 
count of  the  controversy  with  the  New  Hampshire  Grants, 
and  on  the  19th  of  March  they  presented  to  him  a  most 
loyal  and  affectionate  address  at  the  house  of  Lord  Stirling, 
in  Broad  street.  He  sailed  for  Englancfon  the  7th  of  April, 
leaving  the  government  in  the  hands  of  C olden,  his  vener- 
able lieutenant,  then  eighty-six  years  of  age.  Eleven  vdays 
afterward  the  first  of  the  tea-ships  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook, 
near  New  York.  It  was  the  Nancy,  Captain  Lockyer, 
which  had  been  terribly  storm- tossed  and  beaten  on  her 

*  The  committee  consisted  of  John  Cruger,  James  Jauncey,  Benjamin 
Seaman,  Frederick  Philipse,  Zebulon  Seaman,  Simon  Boerum,  James  De 
Lancey,  Jacob  "Walton,  Isaac  Wilkins,  Daniel  Kissam,  John  Rapelye,  John 
De  Noyelles,  and  George  Clinton., 


1774.]  FATE. OF     A     TEA-SHIP.  273 

voyage.  "Ever  since  her  departure  from  Europe/'  said 
Holt's  Journal,  when  noticing  her  arrival,  "  she  has  met 
with  a  continued  succession  of  misfortunes,  having  on 
board  something  worse  than  a  Jonah,  which,  after  being 
long  tossed  in  the  tempestuous  ocean,  it  is  hoped,  like 
him,  will  be  thrown  back  upon  the  place  from  whence  it 
came.  May  it  teach  a  lesson  there  as  useful  as  the  preach- 
ing of  Jonah  was  to  the  Ninevites." 

The  Sons  of  Liberty  were  on  the  alert  when  intelligence 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Nancy  reached  them.  The  pilots 
would  not  take  her  into  port  without  consent  of  the  pa- 
triots. A  committee  went  down  to  Sandy  Hook  and  took 
charge  of  her  ;  and  on  the  solicitation  of  her  captain,  who 
wished  to  refit  his  vessel,  she  was  allowed  to  go  up  to  the  city. 
The  captain  was  met  at  the  wharf  by  a  large  concourse  of 
citizens.  The  consignee,  awed  by  the  people,  advised  the 
captain  to  return  with  his  cargo  as  speedily  as  possible.  He 
was  not  allowed  to  go  near  the  custom-house  ;  and,  finally, 
escorted  by  a  great  number  of  citizens,  called  out  by  the 
ringing  of  the  bells,  and  with  a  band  playing  "  God  save  the 
King,"  he  was  placed  on  a  pilot  boat  and  taken  on  board  his 
ship,  while  the  colors  of  the  vessels  in  the  harbor  were  gaily 
displayed,  and  a  flag  was  unfurled  from  the  Liberty  Pole 
with  a  royal  salute  of  artillery.  Lockyer,  glad  to  escape, 
immediately  put  to  sea. 

Meanwhile  another  vessel  had  arrived,  having  some  tea 
concealed  among  its  cargo.  It  was  discovered  by  the  Sons 
of  Liberty,  and  the  whole  was  thrown  into  the  waters  of 
the  harbor.  The  commander,  who  at  first  denied  having 
the  obnoxious  article,  took  refuge  from  the  fury  of  the 
populace  on  board  the  Nancy,  and  went  with  her  when 
she  sailed  away.  In  other  seaports  of  the  colonies  similar 
proceedings  were  had  when  tea-ships  arrived  ;  and  all  the 

12* 


274  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  41. 

tea  that  came  to  America  was  either  sent  back,  destroyed, 
or  locked  up,  so  that  not  a  farthing  of  revenue  was  ever 
derived  from  the  plausible  scheme  of  Lord  North. 

The  destruction  of  tea  at  Boston  produced  a  powerful 
sensation  throughout  the  British  realm.  The  exasperated 
ministry  at  once  proposed  retaliatory  measures,  and  the 
King  and  Parliament  resolved  to  inflict  severe  punishment 
upon  Boston  for  its  treasonable  and  rebellious  conduct, 
notwithstanding  full  compensation  was  offered  to  the  East 
India  Company  for  the  tea  that  had  been  destroyed.  On 
the  7th  of  March,  1774,  Parliament,  by  enactment,  ordered 
the  port  of  Boston  to  be  closed  against  all  commercial 
transactions  whatever,  and  the  removal  of  the  custom- 
house, courts  of  justice,  and  other  public  offices  to  Salem. 

On  the  28th  of  March  Paliament  leveled  a  destructive 
blow  against  the  charter  of  Massachusetts,  by  so  modifying 
it  as  to  deprive  the  people  of  many  of  the  dearest  privileges 
guaranteed  by  that  instrument.  On  the  21st  of  April,  a 
third  retaliatory  act  was  passed,  providing  for  the  trial  in 
England  of  all  persons  charged  in  the  colonies  with  mur- 
ders committed  in  support  of  government,  giving,  as  Col- 
onel Barre'  pointedly  said,  "  encouragement  to  military 
insolence,  already  so  insupportable."  A  fourth  bill  was 
passed,  providing  for  the  quartering  of  troops  in  America; 
and  a  fifth,  called  the  Quebec  Act,  making  great  conces- 
sions to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Canada,  was  enacted. 
The  latter  excited  the  animosity  of  all  Protestants. 

These  measures  created  unusual  indignation.  The 
Americans  saw  that  justice  from  Great  Britain  could  not 
be  expected,  and  that  they  would  soon  be  called  upon  to 
support  and  defend  their  rights  and  freedom  with  their 
own  strong  arms.  They  wisely  proceeded  to  prepare  for 
the  inevitable  conflict.     They  commenced  arming  them- 


1774]  INVISIBLE     ARMY.  275 

selves.  They  practiced  daily  in  military  exercises.  The 
manufacture  of  arms  and  gunpowder  was  encouraged;  and 
in  New  England,  the  inhabitants  capable  of  bearing  arms 
were  enrolled  in  companies,  and  prepared  to  go  to  the  field 
at  a  minute's  warning.  These  formed  the  vast  host  of 
Minute  Men  of  the  Kevolution — an  army,  as  we  have  else 
where  observed,  "  strong,  determined,  generous,  and  pant- 
ing for  action,  yet  invisible  to  the  superficial  observer.  It 
was  not  seen  in  the  camp,  the  field,  nor  the  garrison.  No 
drum  was  heard  calling  it  to  action,  no  trumpet  was  sounded 
for  battle.  It  was  like  electricity,  harmless  when  latent  but 
terrible  when  aroused.  It  was  all  over  the  land.  It  was  at 
the  plough,  the  workshop,  and  in  the  counting-room.  Al- 
most every  household  was  its  headquarters,  and  every  roof 
its  tent.  It  bivouacked  in  every  church,  and  mothers,  wives, 
sisters,  and  sweethearts,  made  cartridges  for  its  muskets,  and 
supplied  its  commissariat.  It  was  the  old  story  of  Cadmus 
repeated  in  modern  history.  British  oppression  had  sown 
dragons'  teeth  all  over  the  land,  and  a  crop  of  armed  men 
was  ready  to  spring  up,  but  not  to  destroy  each  other/'* 

The  Boston  Port  Bill  was  to  go  into  operation  on  the 
1st  of  June.  To  enforce  it,  General  Gage  had  been  made 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  arrived  at  Boston  od  the 
12th  of  May.  On  the  following  day  a  meeting  of  the  in- 
habitants was  called.  Samuel  Adams  presided,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  renew  non-importation  measures  in  all  their 
stringency,  and  to  discontinue  trade  to  the  West  Indian 
colonies,  if  their  sister  provinces  should  concur  with  them 
in  the  expediency  of  the  measure.  The  object  sought  to 
be  gained  by  including  all  of  the  West  India  islands  was 
not  only  to  raise  a  clamor  in  the  British  possessions  there, 
but  to  arouse  those  of  the  French,  Dutch,  and  Danes,  whose 

*  Lossing's  Life  of  Washington,  i.  140. 


276  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  41. 

respective  courts  would  be  immediately  called  upon  to  re- 
monstrate. 

Paul  Kevere,  one  of  the  most  active  Sons  of  Liberty  in 
Boston,  bore  a  letter  to  those  of  New  York,  giving  them 
intelligence  of  what  had  been  done  in  Faneuil  Hall.  But 
before  his  arrival,  the  New  York  Vigilance  Committee, 
consisting  chiefly  of  Hampden  Hall  patriots — the  most 
radical  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty — had  written  to  their  friends  ' 
in  Boston,  urging  them  to  pursue  vigorous  opposition  meas- 
ures, and  assuring  them  of  the  sympathy  and  support  of 
New  York.     This  letter  was  dated  the  14th. 

We  have  observed  that  the  professed  republicans  of 
New  York  were,  at  this  time,  separated  by  political  dis- 
tractions and  social  differences.  Loyalists  and  conservatives 
sought  to  suppress  if  not  destroy  the  influence  of  the  radi- 
cal democrats,  and  merchants  were  arrayed  against  me- 
chanics. The  merchants,  always  timid  during  commotions, 
were  alarmed  by  the  letter  of  the  Vigilance  Committee  to 
the  patriots  of  Boston,  and  a  meeting  of  their  class  was 
summoned  at  the  house  of  Samuel  Fraunces,  corner  of  Broad 
and  Pearl  streets,  called  "  The  Exchange,"  on  the  evening 
of  the  16th  of  May,  "  to  consult  on  the  measures  to  be 
pursued  in  consequence  of  the  late  extraordinary  advices 
received  from  England" — the  retaliatory  measures  of  Par- 
liament. That  meeting  nominated  a  Committee  of  Fifty 
as  representatives  of  public  sentiment  in  New  York.  Sev- 
eral well-known  loyalists  were  placed  upon  it,  while  more 
radical  Sons  of  Liberty,  like  John  Lamb,  were  excluded. 

A  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  called  on  the  19th  to 
ratify  the  nomination,  when  Francis  Lewis  was  added,  and 
the  committee  consisted  of  fifty-one. 

The  spirit  that  ruled  in  the  appointment  of  that  com- 
mittee may  be  inferred  by  the  following  extract  from  an 


17U.]  GROWING     LOYALTY.  277 

ironical  letter  written  by  Gouverneur  Morris  to  Richard 
Penn,  on  the  day  after  the  ratification  meeting  was  held  : 

"  The  heads  of  the  mobility,"  he  said,  "  grow  dangerous  to  the  gen- 
try, and  how  to  keep  them  down  is  the  question.  While  they  correspond 
with  the  other  colonies,  call  and  dismiss  popular  assemblies,  make  resolves 
to  bind  the  consciences  of  the  rest  of  mankind,  bully  poor  printers,  and 
exert  with  full  force  all  their  tribunitial  powers,  it  is  impossible  to  curb 
them.  But  art  sometimes  goes  further  than  force,  and,  therefore,  to  trick 
them  handsomely,  a  Committee  of  Patricians  was  to  be  nominated,  and 
into  their  hands  was  to  be  committed  the  majority  of  the  people,  and 
the  highest  trust  was  to  be  reposed  in  them  by  a  mandate  that  they 
should  take  care  quod  republica  non  capiat  injuriam.  The  Tribunes, 
through  the  want  of  good  legerdemain  in  the  senatorial  order,  perceived 
the  finesse,  and  yesterday  I  was  present  at  a  grand  division  of  the  city, 
and  there  I  beheld  my  fellow  citizens  very  accurately  counting  their 
chickens  not  only  before  they  were  hatched,  but  before  one  half  of  the 
eggs  were  laid.  In  short,  they  fairly  contended  about  the  future  form 
of  our  government — whether  it  should  be  founded  on  aristocratic  or 
democratic  principles." 

The  first  act  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one  was  to 
repudiate  the  strong  letter  of  the  14th  to  the  Boston  com- 
mittee, and  to  caution  the  public  that  it  was  not  official. 
On  the  23d,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Grand  Committee,  Paul 
Revere  was  received,  and  laid  before  them  the  official  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Boston  town  meeting  of  the  13th.  They 
did  not  concur  with  the  resolutions  of  that  meeting  con- 
cerning non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain  and  the  West 
Indies,  but  favored  the  assembling  of  a  congress  of  deputies. 
They  accordingly  appointed  Alexander  M'Dougall,  Isaac 
Low,  James  Duane,  and  John  Jay  a  committee  to  prepare 
a  response  to  the  Boston  letter.  It  was  written,  it  is  sup- 
posed, by  John  Jay,  and  was  reported  to  the  Grand  Com- 
mittee the  same  evening. 

"  Your  letter,  enclosing  the  vote  of  the  town  of  Boston,  and  the 
letter  of  your  Committee  of  Correspondence,"  said  the  response,  "  were 


278  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Ml.  41. 

immediately  taken  into  consideration.  While  we  think  you  justly  enti- 
tled to  the  thanks  of  your  sister  colonies  for  asking  their  advice  on  a 
case  of  such  extensive  consequences,  we  lament  our  inability  to  relieve 
your  anxiety  by  a  decisive  opinion.  The  cause  is  general,  and  concerns 
a  whole  continent,  who  are  equally  interested  with  you  and  us ;  and  we 
foresee  that  no  remedy  can  be  of  avail  unless  it  proceeds  from  the  joint 
acts  and  approbation  of  all.  From  a  virtuous  and  spirited  union  much 
may  be  expected,  while  the  feeble  efforts  of  a  few  will  only  be  attended 
with  mischief  and  disappointment  to  themselves,  and  triumph  to  the  ad- 
versaries of  liberty. 

"  Upon  these  reasons  we  conclude  that  a  congress  of  deputies  from 
the  colonies  in  general  is  of  the  utmost  importance ;  that  it  ought  to  be 
assembled  without  delay,  and  some  unanimous  resolutions  formed  in  this 
fatal  emergency,  not  only  respecting  your  deplorable  circumstances,  but 
for  the  security  of  our  common  rights.  Such  being  our  sentiments,  it 
must  be  premature  to  pronounce  any  judgment  on  the  expedient  which 
you  have  suggested.  We  beg,  however,  that  you  will  do  us  the  justice  to 
believe  that  we  shall  continue  to  act  with  a  firm  and  becoming  regard  to 
American  freedom,  and  to  cooperate  with  our  sister  colonies  in  every 
measure  that  shall  be  thought  salutary  and  conducive  to  the  public  good. 
We  have  nothing  to  add  but  that  we  sincerely  condole  with  you  in  your 
unexampled  distress,  and  to  request  your  speedy  opinion  of  the  pro- 
posed Congress,  that  if  it  should  meet  with  your  approbation  we  may 
exert  our  utmost  endeavors  to  carry  it  into  execution."* 

The  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  had,  three  days  be- 
fore this  letter  was  prepared,  made  a  similar  recommenda- 
tion, but  intelligence  of  the  fact  had  not,  of  course,  reached 
New  York.  Indeed  the  feeling  was  spontaneous,  and  was 
confined  to  no  section  of  the  country.  The  people  every- 
where began  to  long  for  a  closer  union  against  a  common 
oppressor,  and  Massachusetts  and  other  colonies  promptly 
responded  in  the  affirmative  to  the  suggestion  of  New  York 
for  a  general  congress. 

On  the  7th  of  June,  the  New  York  committee  sent  a 
second  letter  to  the  Boston  committee,  requesting  them  to 
appoint  the  time  and  place  for  the  assembling  of  the  pro- 
posed  congress.     Ten  days  afterward  the  Massachusetts 

*  American  Archives,  i.  297. 


1774.]         NEW     YORK     MISREPRESENTED.  279 

assembly  adopted  and  signed  a  "  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant/' in  which  all  former  non-importation  agreements  and 
cognate  undertakings  were  concentrated  ;  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  send  the  covenant  as  a  circular  to  every 
colony  in  America.  They  also  passed  a  resolution  in  favor 
of  a  general  congress  of  deputies,  and  suggested  the  first 
day  of  the  ensuing  September  as  the  time,  and  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  as  the  place  for  the  assembling  of  such  con- 
gress. The  people  in  other  colonies  acceded  to  the  Boston 
proposition  for  non-intercourse,  and  New  York  stood  al- 
most alone  in  refusing  to  adopt  those  stringent  and  hitherto 
successful  measures.  The  Loyalists  rejoiced,  and  Kiving- 
ton,  the  Koyal  Printer,  published  in  his  Gazetteer  the  fol- 
lowing verse  : 

"  And  so,  my  good  masters,  I  find  it  no  joke, 
For  York  has  stepped  forward  and  thrown  of  the  yoke 
Of  congress,  committees,  and  even  King  Sears,* 
"Who  shows  you  good  nature  by  showing  his  ears." 

The  Committee  of  Vigilance  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty 
were  not  awed  by  the  more  imposing  one  of  the  Fifty-one, 
but  were  active,  vigilant,  and  untiring.  They  called  a 
meeting  of  the  inhabitants  in  "  the  fields/'  on  the  19th  of 
June,  when  the  refusal  of  the  Fifty-one  to  accede  to  the 
general  union  in  favor  of  non-importation,  proposed  by 
Massachusetts,  was  denounced,  and  resolutions  were  passed 
expressive  of  the  sympathy  and  intended  cooperation  of  the 
people  of  New  York  with  the  suffering  Bostonians  ;  also 
that  delegates  should  be  appointed  to  the  proposed  general 
congress,  instructed  to  agree  to  a  vigorous  non-intercourse, 
in  accordance  with  the  Boston  resolutions. 

*  Isaac  Sears,  commonly  called  King  Sears,  was  one  of  the  earliest  and 
most  ardent  Sons  of  Liberty.  He  was  a  merchant,  and,  though  radical,  wag 
placed  on  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one.  The  next  year  he  avenged  himself  by 
leading  a  party  that  d'est:  oyed  Rivington's  printing  establishment. 


280  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  41 . 

The  Committee  of  Fifty-one  held  a  meeting  on  the 
evening  of  the  4th  of  July,  when,  on  motion  of  Alexander 
M'Dougall,  Philip  Livingston,  John  Alsop,  Isaac  Low, 
James  Duane,  and  John  Jay  were  nominated  for  delegates 
to  the  continental  congress.  M'Dougall  also  proposed  to 
ubmit  the  nominations  to  the  Tribunes  or  "  committee  of 
mechanics  for  their  concurrence."  The  nomination  was 
approved,  but  the  reference  to  the  mechanics  was  rejected. 
This  refusal  brought  forth  a  handbill  the  next  day  (July  5), 
which  called  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  to  assemble 
in  "  the  fields"  on  the  6th,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  to 
hear  matters  "  of  the  utmost  importance  to  their  reputa- 
tions and  security  as  freemen." 

A  great  crowd  was  assembled  at  the  appointed  time. 
M'Dougall  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions, drawn  by  him,  were  adopted.  These  denounced  the 
Boston  Port  Bill ;  declared  that  any  attack  upon  the  rights 
of  a  sister  colony  was  immediately  an  attack  upon  the  col- 
ony of  New  York  ;  that  the  assumption  of  power  to  close 
ports  and  interrupt  commerce  was  "highly  unconstitu- 
tional ;"  pledged  the  colony  to  join  with  the  others  in  a 
stringent  non-importation  league,  and  to  be  governed  by 
the  action  of  the  contemplated  general  congress,  etc.  They 
ordered  the  resolutions  to  be  printed  in  the  public  news- 
papers, and  transmitted  to  the  different  counties  in  the 
colony,  and  to  the  committees  of  correspondence  for  the 
neighboring  colonies. 

This  gathering,  so  great  in  numbers  and  in  the  impor- 
tance of  its  action,  was  always  referred  to  as  The  Great 
Meeting  in  the  Fields,  and  it  was  on  that  occasion  that 
a  student  in  King's  College,  known  as  the  "  Young  West 
Indian," — a  delicate  boy,  girl-like  in  personal  grace  and 
stature,  only  seventeen  years  of  age — astonished  the  multi- 


ITU/]  A     NEW     POLITICAL     PLANET.  281 

tude  by  his  logic  and  eloquence.  He  had  been  often  seen 
walking  alone  under  the  shadow  of  large  trees  on  Dey  street, 
sometimes  musing,  and  sometimes  talking  in  low  tones 
to  himself.  The  residents  near  had  occasionally  engaged 
him  in  conversation,  and  were  deeply  impressed  by  his  wis- 
dom. Some  of  them  seeing  him  in  the  crowd,  urged  him 
to  address  the  meeting.  He  at  first  recoiled,  but  after  listen- 
ing attentively  to  the  successive  speakers,  and  finding  several 
points  untouched,  he  presented  himself  to  the  multitude. 

"  The  novelty  of  the  attempt,  his  youthful  countenance, 
his  slender,  boyish  form,  awakened  curiosity  and  excited  at- 
tention. Overawed  by  the  scene  before  him,  he  hesitated 
and  faltered,  but  as  he  proceeded  almost  unconsciously  to 
utter  his  accustomed  reflections,  his  mind  warmed  with 
the  theme — his  energies  were  recovered.  After  a  discus- 
sion clear,  cogent,  and  novel,  of  the  great  principles  in- 
volved in  the  controversy,  he  depicted  in  the  glowing  colors 
of  ardent  youth  the  long  continued  and  long  endured  op- 
pression of  the  mother  country.  Insisting  upon  the  duty 
of  resistance,  he  pointed  to  the  means  and  certainty  of  suc- 
cess, and  described  the  waves  of  rebellion  sparkling  with 
fire,  and  washing  back  on  the  shores  of  England  the 
wrecks  of  her  power,  of  her  wealth,  and  her  glory.  The 
breathless  silence  ceased  when  he  closed,  and  a  whispered 
murmur  ( It  is  a  collegian  !  it  is  a  collegian  !'  was  lost  in 
loud  expressions  of  wonder  and  applause  at  the  extraordi- 
nary eloquence  of  the  young  stranger/'* 

That  orator  was  the  destined  son-in-law  of  Philip 
Schuyler,  Alexander  Hamilton.  This  was  his  entrance 
upon  the  theatre  of  public  life,  whereon  he  played  a  most 
useful  and  extraordinary  part  for  thirty  years. 

*  A  History  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  etc.,  by  John  C.  Hamil- 
ton, i.  55. 


282  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  41. 

The  Committee  of  Fifty-one  met  on  the  evening  of  the 
7th.  They  were  evidently  alarmed  at  the  course  of  events. 
They  reconsidered  their  action  on  the  motion  of  M'Dou- 
gall  to  submit  the  nomination  of  deputies  to  the  congress 
to  the  committee  of  mechanics,  but  proceeded  to  disavow 
and  condemn  the  resolutions  of  the  great  meeting  in  "  the 
fields"  as  seditious  and  incendiary.  These  denunciations 
offended  several  of  the  staunch  republicans  of  the  commit- 
tee, and  eleven  of  them  instantly  withdrew.* 

"  The  political  sky  at  this  place,"  wrote  Councillor  Smith  to  Colonel 
Schuyler  two  days  afterward,  "  is  cloudy.  The  Committee  of  Fifty-one, 
composed  of  jarring  members,  ten  or  a  dozen  of  whom  have  made  a 
secession  from  the  main  body  upon  the  majority's  disapproving  some 
late  resolves  in  the  Fields,  which  you  have  seen  in  the  papers.  These 
were  intended  to  urge  the  committee  to  join  the  common  voice  of  the 
continent.  They  have  since  published  other  resolves,  and  to-day  the 
town  meets  to  approve  or  disapprove  them.  Those  who  know  the 
populace  say  nothing  will  be  done  but  a  motion  be  made  to  amend 
them.  Strange  that  a  colony  who  had  the  first  intelligence  of  the  Par- 
liamentary measures  is  behind  all  the  rest."f 

A  committee  appointed  by  the  Tribunes,  or  mechanics, 
addressed  a  note  to  each  of  the  nominees  for  a  seat  in  the 
assembly  of  deputies,  requesting  to  know  whether  they 
would  support  the  Massachusetts  resolves  in  that  ap- 
proaching congress.  They  answered  that  such  a  course 
would  be  in  accordance  with  their  individual  opinions,  but 
declared  that  they  gave  the  assurance  not  with  a  view  to 
secure  their  election,  but  to  express  their  sentiments  upon 
a  question  of  so  great  importance.^  This  response  was 
quite  satisfactory,  and  on  the  27th  of  July  the  gentlemen 

*  These  were  Francis  Lewis,  Joseph  Hallet,  Alexander  M'Dougall,  Peter 
V.  B.  Livingston,  Isaac  Sears,  Thomas  Randall,  Abraham  P.  Lott,  Leonard 
Lispenard,  John  Broome,  Abraham  Brasher,  and  Jacob  Van  Zandt. 

f  Autograph  letter,  July  9,  1774. 

%  Leake's  Life  of  Lamb,  page  94. 


1774.]      FIRST     CONTINENTAL     CONGRESS.        283 

who  were  nominated  were  elected  delegates  by  the  unani- 
mous vote  of  the  city.  Suffolk  county  elected  William 
Floyd  ;  Orange  county,  Henry  Wisner  and  John  Herring  ; 
and  Kings  county,  Simon  Boerum.  Dutchess  and  West- 
chester adopted  the  New  York  city  delegates  as  their  rep- 
resentatives. 

Albany  county  endeavored  to  send  a  deputy  from  that 
district  in  the  person  of  Colonel  Schuyler,  who  had  been 
all  the  year,  thus  far  in  its  progress,  a  great  sufferer  from 
the  pains  of  rheumatism  and  his  hereditary  malady.  We 
have  observed  that  he  could  not  attend  the  session  of  the 
assembly,  and  while  the  stirring  scenes  which  we  have  just 
considered  were  transpiring  in  New  York,  he  was  a  prisoner 
to  disease  at  Saratoga.  His  friends  were  anxious  that  one 
so  useful  should  be  in  active  public  life,  and  as  the  time 
drew  near  when  the  great  Senate  of  the  people  was  to  as- 
semble, his  constituents,  and  his  friends  in  other  districts, 
earnestly  desired  his  recovery,  for  no  man  appeared  so  eli- 
gible for  the  position  as  he.  Toward  the  close  of  July, 
Councillor  Smith  wrote  to  him,  saying  : 

"  The  colonies  are  preparing  for  the  grand  Witenage  Mote  [Great  As- 
sembly] with  great  spirit.  At  Philadelphia  a  plan  is  digesting  for  an 
American  constitution.  I  know  not  the  outlines  of  it.  I  hope  it  is  for  a 
Parliament,  and  to  meet  annually.  Our  people  will  be  the  last  of  all  in 
the  appointment  of  delegates.  I  wish  your  county  would  assist  in  the 
choice.  Expresses  will  be  sent  through  the  whole  colony  to  call  upon 
the  counties  for  the  purpose.  *  *  *  The  people  of  England  begin  to  call 
out  for  an  American  Parliament."* 

Colonel  Schuyler's  health  improved  early  m  August,  so 
that  he  rode  down  to  Albany  ;  and  when  intelligence  that 
an  appointment  of  delegates  to  the  congress  had  been  made 
in  New  York  city,  his  constituents  felt  more  anxious  than 
ever  for  his  recovery.     Late  in  August  he  received  the  fol- 

*  Autograph  letter,  July  23,  1774. 


284  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JET.  41. 

lowing  letter  from   Jacob   Lansing,  jr.,  chairman  of  the 
Albany  Committee  of  Correspondence  : 

"  Yours  of  the  22d  instant  I  have  received.  These  rheumatic  pain5*, 
attended  with  a  disagreeable  fever,  are  undoubtedly  very  hard,  but  we 
must  console  ourselves  in  the  days  of  affliction  by  hoping  we  shall  get 
the  better  of  it.  T  am  now  requested  by  the  Committee  to  inform  you 
that,  by  the  majority  of  votes  of  that  board,  you  are  appointed  our  dele- 
gate for  the  city  and  county  of  Albany,  to  join  the  general  congress  at 
Philadelphia,  which  I  hope  you  will  accept,  and  not  decline  serving,  as 
it  is  for  the  welfare  of  the  public.  *  *  *  It  is  proposed  to  meet  on  Tues- 
day next  to  consider  the  resolves — whether  we  are  to  stand  by  the  re- 
solves made  at  New  York  [at  the  great  meeting  in  the  Fields,]  or  make 
new  ones."* 

Colonel  Schuyler's  health  would  not  permit  him  to  ac- 
cept the  nomination,  and  Mr.  Lansing  communicated  to 
the  congress  the  fact  that  the  committee  of  the  city  and 
county  of  Albany  had  adopted  the  New  York  city  dele- 
gates as  the  representatives  of  their  district.^  Within 
sixty-three  days  after  the  proposition  for  a  general  congress 
went  forth,  twelve  of  the  thirteen  Anglo-American  colonies 
had  responded  in  the  affirmative  ;  and  at  the  beginning  of 
September  delegates  from  all  them  were  on  their  way 
toward  Philadelphia. 

*  Autograph  letter,  August  23, 1774. 

f  Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  September  5,  1774. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  First  Continental  Congress  assembled  in  Car- 
penter's Hall,  Philadelphia,  on  Monday,  the  5th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1774.  Twelve  colonies  were  represented.  Peyton 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  was  chosen  president,  and  Charles 
Thomson,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed  secretary.  The 
regular  business  of  the  congress  commenced  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th  of  September,  after  the  Reverend  Jacob  Duche, 
of  the  Church  of  England,  in  an  impressive  prayer,  had 
implored  the  aid  of  Divine  Wisdom  in  the  work  to  be  per- 
formed. 

The  session  of  that  congress,  so  strange  and  bold  in  its 
inception — so  unmindful  of  all  precedents — so  imposing  in 
its  array  of  truly  great,  because  good  and  courageous  men 
— so  important  to  the  cause  of  free  thought  and  action  in 
both  hemispheres — was  brief  but  wonderfully  fruitful  of 
results.  The  deputies  remained  in  session  until  the  26th 
of  October.  They  were  far  from  harmonious  in  their  ac- 
tion. There  were  antagonisms,  growing  out  of  geographi- 
cal and  social  differences,  that  at  times  threatened  to  defeat 
the  great  purposes  of  the  congress.  But  the  deputies  de- 
bated with  courtesy  and  candor,  respected  each  other's 
opinions,  sought  diligently  for  the  way  of  truth,  and  fin- 
ally matured  public  measures  for  future  action  which  re- 
ceived the  general  approbation  of  the  American  people. 

The  congress  prepared  and  signed  a  plan  for  a  general 


286  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  41. 

commercial  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain  and  her 
West  India  possessions,  according  to  the  recommendation 
of  the  assembly  of  Massachusetts.  It  was  called  The  Am- 
erican Association,  and  was  recommended  for  adoption 
throughout  the  country.  It  consisted  of  fourteen  articles  ; 
and  in  addition  to  its  non-intercourse  provisions,  it  recom- 
mended the  abandonment  of  the  slave  trade,  the  improve- 
ment of  the  breed  of  sheep,  abstinence  from  all  extravagance 
in  living,  cessation  of  indulgence  in  horse-racing,  etc.,  and 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  in  every  town,  to  promote 
conformity  to  the  requirements  of  the  Association.  Fifty- 
two  members  present  signed  it,  and  it  was  sent  forth  to 
the  people  as  a  powerful  weapon  wherewith  to  combat  the 
wicked  enactments  of  the  British  Parliament. 

The  congress  also  put  forth  a  Declaration  of  Eights, 
and  an  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain  ;  another  to 
the  several  Anglo-American  colonies  ;  another  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Quebec,  or  Canada  ;  and  a  petition  to  the 
King.  These  were  remarkable  state  papers,  and  elicited 
the  warmest  encomiums  from  the  first  statesmen  in  the  old 
world.  But  their  most  significant  action  was  on  the  8th 
of  October,  when  they  resolved  : 

"  That  this  congress  approve  the  opposition  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the  execution  of  the  late 
acts  of  Parliament,  and  if  the  same  shall  be  attempted  to 
be  carried  into  execution  by  force,  in-such  case  all  Amer- 
ica ought  to  support  them  in  their  opposition!' 

Thus  it  was  that  the  voice  of  the  nation  spoke  out  in 
harmonious  and  defiant  tones.  The  quarrel  of  Massachu- 
setts with  the  home  government  was  then  adopted  as  their 
own  by  the  other  colonies.  It  was  the  deliberate  expression 
of  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the  continent,  and  made 
a  most  profound  impression  upon  the  civilized  world.    And 


1174.]  PUBLIC     EXCITEMENT.  287 

when  full  intelligence  of  the  acts  of  the  congress,  after  their 
adjournment,  reached  England,  the  great  William  Pitt 
manifested  his  admiration  of  their  wisdom,  and  said  :  "I 
have  not  words  to  express  my  satisfaction  that  the  congress 
has  conducted  this  most  arduous  and  delicate  business  with 
such  manly  wisdom  and  resolution  as  do  the  highest  honor 
to  their  deliberation." 

The  congress  "dissolved  itself"  after  a  session  of  fifty- 
one  days;  and  having  declared  their  opinion  that  "another 
congress  should  be  held  on  the  10th  day  of  May  next,  un- 
less the  redress  of  grievances  which  we  have  desired  be  ob- 
tained before  that  time,"  they  recommended  such  deputies 
to  assemble  at  Philadelphia,  and  that  "all  the  colonies  in 
North  America  choose  delegates  as  soon  as  possible  to  at- 
tend such  congress." 

At  the  beginning  of  1775,  the  colonies  were  in  a  blaze 
of  excitement.  Measures  were  every  where  consummated 
or  in  progress  to  enforce  the  American  Association,  by  the 
appointment  of  committees  of  inspection  ;  and  provincial 
congresses,  assuming  the  functions  of  regular  civil  govern- 
ment, soon  began  to  germinate,  in  defiance  of  known  pre- 
parations on  the  part  of  the  British  ministry  to  crush  the 
rising  rebellion. 

In  November,  1774,  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one  in 
New  York  was  dissolved,  and  at  a  meeting  of  "freeholders 
and.  freemen,"  held  at  the  City  Hall  on  the  22d  of  that 
month,  a  committee  of  sixty  persons  were  chosen,  "  for 
carrying  into  execution  the  Association  entered  into  by  the 
Continental  Congress." 

On  that  day,  Councillor  Smith,  who  was  already  begin- 
ning to  waver  in  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the  people, 
in  the  shape  it  was  assuming,  wrote  to  Colonel  Schuyler, 


288  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  41. 

"  You  know  what  spirit  prevailed  in  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one 
before  the  congress  had  published  their  resolves,  letters,  etc.  Their 
delegates  have  become  converts  to  the  prevailing  sentiments  of  the  con- 
gress. The  true  motives  I  can  not  positively  as  jet  pronounce,  nor 
would  I  be  censorious.  I  am  still  not  without  suspicions,  and  have  a 
little  clue.  Suppose  some  of  them,  who  were  once  opposed  to  the  Lib- 
erty Boys,  should  have  reasoned  thus  at  Philadelphia :  '  The  govern- 
ment favor  we  have  already  lost,  and  the  question  only  is  whether  we 
shall  court  the  continent  or  the  merchants  of  New  York.  From  the 
last  we  have  less  to  fear.  There  is  an  approaching  election,  and  with 
part  of  the  trade,  part  of  the  Church,  all  the  non-episcopals,  and  all  the 
Liberty  Boys,  we  may  secure  places  in  the  assembly  and  laugh  at  the 
discontented.'  *  *  *  You  '11  not  wonder,  therefore,  to  learn  that  by  the 
interest  of  the  delegates  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one  is  to  be  dissolved, 
and  a  new  committee  appointed  to  execute  the  decrees  of  the  congress, 
which  is  to  consist  of  the  delegates  and  such  a  set  as  the  most  active 
of  the  Liberty  Boys  approve,  and  had  (through  the  mechanics,  who  were 
consulted.)  chosen  in  conjunction  with  the  Committee  of  Fifty-one,  from 
which  a  set,  who  formerly  dictated  all  their  movements,  have  retired 
outwitted  and  disgusted,  and,  as  they  think,  betrayed.  With  this  hint 
you  '11  be  able  to  predict  what  the  conduct  of  some  old  politicians  will 
be  at  the  next  session,  and  will  perceive  that  the  current  will  set  all  one 
way  for  liberty  in  both  Houses,  unless  some  persons  will  throw  obsta- 
cles in  the  way."* 

As  soon  as  the  congress  adjourned,  the  Loyalists  and 
the  high  church  party  in  New  York  undertook  to  weaken 
the  American  Association,  hy  inducing  violations  of  its 
requirements.  Accomplished  scholars  and  able  divines, 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  controversy  about  an  Amer- 
ican episcopate,  now  resumed  their  pens.  Among  the 
most  eminent  of  these  writers  were  Reverends  Dr.  Cooper, 
president  of  King's  College,  Dr.  Ingles,  Dr.  Seabury,  and 
Dr.  Chandler.  Their  chief  opponents  were  William  Liv- 
ingston, John  Jay,  and  young  Alexander  Hamilton.  The 
latter  entered  the  list  of  political  writers  at  this  time,  and 
very  soon  he  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  chief  of  all,  not 
excepting  the   veteran   combatant,  Livingston,  who  had 

*  Autograph  letter,  November  22,  1774. 


ITU.]     DEATH     OF     GENERAL     BRADSTREET.      289 

battled  the  church  and  government  party  so  manfully  for 
many  long  years.  Hamilton's  reply  to  Dr.  Seabury,  who 
assumed  the  character  of  a  "  Westchester  Farmer,"  was 
a  masterpiece  of  reflections  and  wise  conclusions  upon 
the  subject  of  political  economy  ;  and  at  that  early  day, 
before  cotton,  the  great  staple  of  our  southern  States,  had 
been  dreamed  of  as  an  article  of  commerce,  he  foresaw 
its  immense  future  value.  " With  respect  to  cotton"  he 
said  "  you  do  not  pretend  to  deny  that  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  that  might  be  produced.  Several  of  the  southern  col- 
onies are  so  favorable  to  it,  that,  with  due  cultivation,  in  a 
couple  of  years  they  would  afford  enough  to  clothe  the 
whole  continent." 

Colonel  Schuyler  visited  New  York  in  September,  for 
the  first  time  in  many  months.  He  was  called  there  by  a 
summons  to  the  bedside  of  his  dying  friend,  General  Brad- 
street.  He  remained  in  the  city,  with  the  exception  of  pne 
week,  until  the  meeting  of  the  assembly  on  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary following. 

We  have  already  observed  that  Bradstreet,  from  causes 
which  do  not  appear,  was,  for  several  }rears,  alienated  from 
his  family.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  his  wife  and  four 
children  were  living.  His  son  was  a  major  in  the  British 
army,  and  his  daughters  (Mrs.  Agatha  Buttar,  and  Martha 
and  Eliza  Bradstreet,)  were  with  their  mother  in  London, 
under  the  protecting  care  of  Sir  Charles  Gould,  of  the 
Horse  Guards.  In  an  angry  moment,  Bradstreet  had  made 
a  will  cutting  off  his  family  from  inheritance  of  his  estate. 
Colonel  Schuyler  frequently  remonstrated  with  him  on  the 
injustice  and  cruelty  of  his  act,  and  finally  obtained  the 
General's  consent  to  destroy  the  will.  On  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, "1774,  Bradstreet  executed  another,  in  which  pro- 

13 


290  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

vision  was  made  for  his  family.*  It  was  drawn  by  William 
Smith.  Colonel  Schuyler  was  made  sole  executor,  and  im- 
mediately after  the  general's  death,  he  addressed  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  widow  : 

"Dear  Madam:  Such  are  the  vicissitudes  of  human  life,  that  a  mis- 
fortune .seldom  occurs  but  what  is  accompanied  by  some  comfort.  Such 
are  the  reflections  which  arise  on  the  death  of  General  Bradstreet,  for 
whilst  I  mourn  the  departed  friend,  I  rejoice  the  returned  husband  and 
parent.  No  characters,  Madam,  are  perfectly  free  from  blemish.  The 
greatest,  and  almost  the  only  one  in  his  was  an  unbecoming  resentment 
against  his  family,  for  supposed  faults  of  which  I  have  often  told  him 
I  feared  he  was  too  much  the  occasion.  This,  however,  ought  to 
be  for  ever  eradicated  from  your  memory,  as  he  died  in  perfect  peace 
with  all.  Having  set  his  heart  at  ease  on  this  point,  he  seemed  more 
cheerful  than  he  had  been  for  a  long  time  before,  and  met  his  fate  with 
all  the  fortitude  becoming  his  character  as  a  soldier,  and  with  all  the 
resignation  inspired  by  a  consciousness  that  the  Supreme  Being  disposes 
all  for  the  best."t 

General  Bradstreet  was  buried  in  Trinity  church-yard, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  with  military  honors.  His  re- 
mains were  taken  to  the  church,  accompanied  by  civil  and 
military  officers,  and  the  47th  regiment. 

The  first  session  of  the  New  York  .assembly  after  the 
Continental  Congress  had  closed  its  labors  commenced  on 
the  10th  of  January,  1775.  There  was  a  clear  majority  of 
loyalists  or  Tories,  as  the  friends  of  the  government  were 
now  called,  in  both  Houses,  and  Colonel  Schuyler,  as  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  opposition,  nobly  seconded  by 
Clinton,  Woodhull,  Tenbroeck,  Boerum,  Van  Cortlandt, 
Livingston,  De  Witt,  and  Thomas,  resolved  to  have  the 
political  issues  between  the  government  and  the  people 
distinctly  drawn  and  specifically  considered. 

The  venerable  Lieutenant  Governor  Colden,  in  his  mes- 

*  Substance  of  an  autograph  letter  (rough  draft)  of  Colonel  Schuyler  to  Sir 
Charles  Gould,  October  2,  1774 

f  Autograph  letter,  October  2,  1774. 


1T75.]  THE     NEW     YORK     ASSEMBLY.  291 

sage,  called  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  the  dis- 
turbed state  of  the  colonies;  spoke  of  the  "  alarming  crisis;" 
and  told  the  assembly  that  the  country  looked  to  them  for 
wise  counsel.  "If  constituents  are  discontented  and  ap-| 
prehensive,"  he  said,  "examine  their  complaints  with  calm- 
ness and  deliberation,  and  determine  upon  them  with  an 
honest  impartiality."  He  directed  them  to  supplicate  the 
throne,  and  they  would  be  heard  ;  exhorted  them  to  dis- 
countenance measures  calculated  to  increase  the  public  dis- 
tress, and  promised  them  his  aid. 

The  assembly,  in  its  response  to  the  governor's  message, 
took  conservative  ground.  It  was  drawn  by  Mr.  De  Lan- 
cey.  Colonel  Schuyler  was  one  of  the  committee,  and  be- 
fore it  was  reported  he  moved  to  strike  out  the  words  "  and 
with  calmness  and  deliberation  pursue  the  most  probable 
means  to  obtain  a  redress  of  our  grievances,"  and  to  sub- 
stitute the  following  :  "  And  consider  and  examine,  with 
the  utmost  calmness,  deliberation,  and  impartiality,  the 
complaints  of  our  constituents  ;  and  endeavor  to  obtain  a 
cordial  and  permanent  reconciliation  with  our  parent  state, 
by  pursuing  the  most  probable  means  to  obtain  a  redress  of 
our  grievances/'  This  was  thought  too  strong  language, 
and  it  was  negatived.  Schuyler  voted  for  the  address, 
which  had  been  slightly  amended,  for  there  was  nothing  in 
it  particularly  offensive  to  a  patriot. 

On  the  26th  of  January,  a  question  came  up  which 
tested  the  political  character  of  the  assembly.  On  that 
day  Colonel  Tenbroeck  moved  that  the  House  should  "  take 
into  consideration  the  proceedings  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  the  months  of 
September  and  October  last."  The  motion  was  negatived 
by  a  majority  of  only  one,  the  previous  question  having 
been  called  by  Colonel  Phillipse.     Notwithstanding  the 


292  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  42. 

meagreness  of  the  majority,  the  result  gave  great  joy  to 
the  Tories. 

"  I  have  the  most  perfect  satisfaction,"  wrote  a  New  Tork  Loyalist, 
to  his  friend  in  Annapolis,  "  in  acquainting  you  that  this  day  was  made, 
in  our  assembly,  a  motion  for  appointing  a  day  for  examining  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  that  it  was  thrown  out  of  the 
House  by  a  majority  of  one  voice.  Of  this  event  I  heartily  wish  you 
joy,  and  that  this  example  may  be  adopted  by  the  senators  in  your 
province ;  but  my  fears  almost  preclude  the  hope  of  such  good." 

Another  wrote,  on  the  30th,  to  a  gentleman  in  Boston, 
saying : 

u  The  enclosed  will  unriddle  the  joy  that  fills  the  breasts  of  all  the 
friends  to  government,  decency,  and  good  order.  Since  the  glorious 
eleven,  with  Colonel  Phillipse  at  their  head,  have  carried  the  day,  two 
more  members  have  come,  both  of  which  are  on  the  right  side,  so  that 
there  is  now  no  chance  of  the  assembly's  aiding  or  abetting  the  congress. 
The  friends  of  the  government  plume  themselves  on  this  victory,  and 
are  now  open-mouthed  against  the  proceedings  of  congress,  and  no  one 
dares  among  gentlemen  to  support  them.  Worthy  old  Silver  Locks 
(Lieutenant  G-overnor  Colden),  when  he  heard  that  the  assembly  had 
acted  right,  cried,  out,  '  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace.' " 

On  the  31st  of  January  it  was  agreed  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  state  of  .the  colony,  and  to  enter  upon  the 
journals  such  resolutions  as  they  should  pass.  It  was  de- 
termined to  prepare  a  petition  to  the  King,  a  memorial  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  and  a  statement  and  a  remonstrance 
to  the  Commons.  For  the  latter  service  Colonel  Schuyler 
was  associated  with  some  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
House,  and  they  reported  on  the  3d  of  March. 

Meanwhile  other  action,  cooperative  with  the  patriots 
in  the  sister  colonies,  was  attempted  in  the  House.  On 
the  16th  of  February,  Colonel  Schuyler  moved  that  certain 
letters  which  had  passed  between  the  committees  of  corres- 
pondence of  New  York  and  Connecticut,  in  June,  1774,  on 


1*75.]  TORYISM     TRIUMPHANT.  293 

the  subject  of  another  congress,  and  also  a  copy  of  a  letter 
to  Edmund  Burke,  the  agent  of  New  York  at  the  court  of 
Great  Britain,  written  by  the  assembly  committee  of  cor- 
respondence in  September,  1774,  "  be  forthwith  entered  in 
the  journals  of  the  House,  and  that  the  clerk  be  ordered  to 
supply  copies  for  publication  in  the  newspapers.  This  mo- 
tion was  negatived  by  a  vote  of  sixteen  to  nine. 

On  the  following  day  Colonel  Woodhull  moved  that 
the  thanks  of  the  House  should  be  given  to  the  delegates 
from  New  York  in  the  late  Continental  Congress  "for 
their  faithful  discharge  of  the  trust  reposed  in  them." 
This  was  negatived  by  fifteen  to  nine.  A  motion  to  tender 
the  thanks  of  the  House  to  the  merchants  and  inhabitants 
for  their  patriotic  adherence  to  the  non-importation  league, 
was  negatived  by  the  same  vote.  On  the  23d  a  motion 
to  appoint  delegates  to  the  proposed  second  Continental 
Congress  was  negatived  by  a  vote  of  seventeen  to  nine. 
Each  of  these  motions  were  debated  with  #zeal,  and  fore- 
most among  the  speakers  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  were 
Schuyler  and  Clinton. 

On  the  3d  of  March  the  committee  appointed  to  pre- 
pare a  statement  of  the  grievances  of  the  colony  presented 
a  timid  report,  far  too  delicate  in  its  condemnation  of  cer- 
tain acts  of  Parliament  to  suit  the  views  of  Schuyler  and 
his  friends.  He  spoke  out  boldly  but  courteously  concern- 
ing the  hesitation  of  the  committee,  and  then  moved  that 
a  certain  act  of  Parliament,  "so  far  as  it  imposes  duties  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  in  America — extends  the 
admiralty  courts  beyond  their  ancient  limits — deprives  his 
Majesty's  American  subjects  of  trial  by  jury — authorizes 
the  judges'  certificates  to  indemnify  the  prosecutor  from 
damages  which  he  might  otherwise  be  liable  to — and  holds 
up  an  injurious  discrimination  between  the  subjects  in 


294  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

Great  Britain  and  in  America,  is  a  grievance."  He  sup- 
ported his  motion  with  great  zeal  and  was  warmly  seconded 
by  Clinton.  It  was  adopted  in  committee  of  the  whole  by 
a  vote  of  seven  to  two. 

Mr.  De  Lancey,  who  voted  in  the  negative,  now  moved 
that  the  opinion  of  the  committee  of  the  whole  should  be 
taken  "  whether  his  Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  have  a  right  to  regulate  the  trade  of  the  colonies, 
and  to  lay  duties  on  articles  that  are  imported  directly 
into  the  colonies,  from  any  foreign  country,  which  might 
interfere  with  the  products  of  Great  Britain."  It  was  de- 
cided, by  the  same  relative  vote,  that  they  had  the  right, 
Schuyler  and  Clinton  voting  in  the  negative.  Schuyler 
then  moved  the  following  addition  to  De  Lancey's  resolu- 
tion :  "  excluding  every  idea  of  taxation,  internal  or  exter- 
nal, for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  on  the  subjects  in 
America  without  their  consent."  This  amendment  was 
defeated. 

The  committee  appointed  under  the  resolution  of  the 
31st  of  January,  to  prepare  a  series  of  resolves  to  be  placed 
on  the  journal  of  the  House,  reported  on  the  8th.  These 
resolutions  were  five  in  number,  and  as  there  was  nothing 
in  them  particularly  offensive  to  the  republicans,  they 
were  adopted  without  much  discussion  by  a  handsome  ma- 
jority, after  some  amendments  had  been  rejected.  But 
when,  on  the  24th,  the  petition  to  the  King  was  reported, 
it  was  so  obsequious,  so  disappointing  to  the  friends  of 
popular  liberty,  that  Schuyler  took  fire,  and  offered  amend- 
ments to  almost  every  paragraph,  in  language  more  be- 
coming the  dignity  of  freemen.  He  moved  to  strike  out  of 
the  fifth  paragraph  the  sentence  which  spoke  of  the  King 
as  "an  indulgent  father"— that  said  there  were  "some 
measures  pursued  by  the  colonies  that  might  be  construed 


1775.]  OBSEQUIOUSNESS     REBUKED.  295 

to  their  disadvantage,"  and  which  they  condemned,  and  be- 
sought him  to  view  them  leniently,  as  "  the  honest  though 
disorderly  struggles  for  liberty,  not  the  licentious  efforts  of 
independence."  For  these  fawning  words  Schuyler  proposed 
to  substitute  "  And  as  we  have  too  much  reason  to  suspect 
that  pains  have  been  taken  to  induce  your  Majesty  to  think 
us  impatient  of  constitutional  government,  we  entreat  you, 
Royal  Sir,  to  believe  that  our  commotions  are  honest  strug- 
gles for  maintaining  our  constitutional  liberty,  and  not 
dictated  by  a  desire  for  independence.  Could  your  princely 
virtues,  as  easily  as  your  powers,  have  been  delegated  to 
your  servants,  we  had  not,  at  this  time,  been  reduced  to 
the  disagreeable  necessity  of  disturbing  your  repose  on  an 
occasion  which  we  sincerely  lament."  This  was  such  a 
severe  commentary  on  the  conduct  of  the  royal  governors 
that  the  loyal  assembly  rejected  it  by  a  vote  of  fifteen  to 
eight. 

Colonel  Schuyler  then  moved  to  strike  out  of  the  sixth 
paragraph  the  passage  which  spoke  of  the  colonies  having, 
as  infants,  "  submitted  hitherto,  without  repining,  to  the 
authority  of  the  parent  state,"  but  now  thought  "  them- 
selves entitled  to  their  birthright,"  which  was  "an  equal 
participation  of  freedom  with  their  fellow  subjects  in  Great 
Britain,"  and  to  substitute  these  words  :  "  Although  your 
Majesty's  American  subjects  have,  in  some  instances,  sub- 
mitted to  the  power  exercised  by  the  parent  state,  they 
nevertheless  conceive  themselves  entitled  to  an  equal  par- 
ticipation of  freedom  with  their  fellow  subjects  in  Great 
Britain."  This  more  manly  and  dignified  mode  of  expres- 
sion did  not  suit  the  -Tory  members,  and  this  amendment 
was  also  rejected  by  a  vote  of  fourteen  to  seven. 

Unflinching  in  his  determination,  Colonel  Schuyler  im- 
mediately moved  to  strike  out  the  parargraph  in  which 


296  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  4,2. 

they  assured  the  King  that  they  cheerfully  acknowledged 
subordination  to  the  Parliament,  and  wished  "  only  to  en- 
joy the  rights  of  Englishmen,  and  to  have  that  share  of 
liberty,  and  those  liberties  secured  to  them,  which  they 
were  entitled  to,"  and  to  substitute  the  words,  "  Conscious 
of  the  incompetency  of  the  colonial  Legislatures  to  regu- 
late the  trade  of  the  empire,  we  cheerfully  acknowledge 
such  a  power  in  that  august  body  [the  Parliament]  as  is 
founded  in  expediency,  and  confined  to  the  regulation  of 
our  external  commerce,  with  a  view  to  the  general  weal  of 
all  your  Majesty's  subjects,  and  in  such  manner  as  will 
leave  to  us,  unimpaired,  those  rights  which  we  hold  by  the 
immutable  laws  of  nature,  and  the  principles  of  the  Eng- 
lish constitution  ;  but  the  exercise  of  powers  incompatible 
with  those  rights,  not  justified  by  expediency,  and  destruc- 
tive of  English  liberty,  induces  us,"  etc.  This,  also,  was 
negatived  by  a  vote  of  fifteen  to  eight. 

Colonel  Woodhull,  Mr.  Clinton,  and  Mr.  De  Witt,  of- 
fered substitutes  for  paragraphs  with  the  same  desire  to 
have  the  petition  manly  in  tone,  but  they  were  all  voted 
down. 

At  the  afternoon  session  of  the  same  day,  the  memorial 
to  the  House  of  Lords  was  considered,  and  Colonel  Schuy- 
ler offered  several  amendments,  so  as  to  more  distinctly 
enunciate  the  Whig  view  of  the  powers  of  Parliament, 
but  they  were  negatived  by  a  strict  party  vote.  Amend- 
ments to  the  representation  and  remonstrance  to  the  Com- 
mons, offered  by  Clinton,  shared  the  same  fate.  Thus,  in 
the  course  of  a  month,  the  political  ideas  considered  by  the 
Continental  Congress  were  reviewed  by  the  New  York  as- 
sembly. 

These  papers,  expressive  of  the  feelings  of  the  majority 
of  the  representatives,  but  not  of  the  people  of  the  province, 


1775.]  POPULAR     DEMONSTRATIONS.  297 

were  ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  Edmund  Burke,  the 
agent  of  the  colony  ;  and  on  the  3d  of  April  the  colonial 
assembly  adjourned,  never  to  meet  again. 
•  What  now  was  to  be  done  ?  The  republicans  of  the 
province  of  New  York,  composing  by  far  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  inhabitants,  labored  under  severe  disabilities. 
Acting  Governor  Colden  was  a  Loyalist,  and  his  council 
held  office  by  the  King's  will.  The  assembly,  though 
chosen  by  the  people,  continued  in  existence  only  by  the 
King's  prerogative.  They  might  be  dissolved  by  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  crown  (the  acting  governor)  at  any  mo- 
ment. There  was  no  legally  constituted  body  to  form  a 
rallying  point  for  the  patriots  as  in  Massachusetts,  where 
there  was  an  elective  council  and  an  annually  elected  as- 
sembly. In  all  the  other  colonies  there  was  some  nucleus 
of  power  around  which  the  people  might  assemble,  and 
claim  to  be  heard  with  respect.  But  in  New  York  they 
were  thrown  back  upon  their  own  resources,  and  nobly  did 
they  preserve  their  integrity  and  maintain  their  cause,  in 
spite  of  every  obstacle. 

The  whole  continent  was  now  moving  in  the  direction 
of  rebellion.  The  newspapers  were  filled  with  every  spe- 
cies of  writing  which  the  occasion  called  forth — epigrams, 
parables,  sonnets,  dialogues,  as  well  as  grave  essays  ;  and 
the  great  subject  was  presented  to  the  public  mind  in  every 
conceivable  form  of  literary  expression,  remarkable  for  point 
and  terseness.  The  following  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  logic 
in  rhyme  which  often  appeared  : 

"Rudely  forced  to  drink  tea,  Massachusetts  hi  anger 
Spills  the  tea  on  John  Bull — John  falls  on  to  bang  her; 
Massachusetts,  enraged,  calls  her  neighbors  to  aid, 
And  give  Master  John  a  severe  bastinade. 
Now,  good  men  of  the  law,  pray  who  is  in  fault, 
The  one  who  begun,  or  resents  the  assault  ?" 
13* 


298  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

The  warlike  demonstrations  of  the  people  had  alarmed 
General  Gage  at  Boston,  and  he  commenced  fortifying  the 
Neck  leading  to  the  main  at  Koxbury.  He  also  seized  and 
conveyed  to  that  city,  quantities  of  gunpowder  found  in 
the  neighboring  villages,  and  employed  stringent  measures 
to  prevent  intercourse  between  the  patriots  in  town  and 
country.  Fierce  exasperation  followed  these  impolitic  meas- 
ures. Hundreds  of  armed  men  assembled  at  Cambridge. 
At  Charlestown  the  people  took  possession  of  the  arsenal, 
after  Gage  had  carried  off  the  powder.  At  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  they  captured  the  fort,  and  carried  off 
the  ammunition.  At  Newport,  Ehode  Island,  the  people 
seized  the  powder,  and  took  possession  of  forty  pieces  of 
cannon  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  In  Philadelphia, 
Annapolis,  Williamsburg,  Charleston,  and  Savannah,  sim- 
ilar defensive  measures  were  taken. 

The  excitement  in  New  York  was  equally  intense. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  preceding  December,  the  Liberty 
Boys  were  called  to  action  by  the  seizure  of  arms  and  am- 
munition, which  some  of  them  had  imported,  and  had  con- 
signed to  Walter  Franklin,  a  well  known  merchant.  These 
were  seized  by  order  of  the  collector,  because,  as  he  alleged, 
of  the  want  of  cockets,  or  custom-house  warrants,  they 
having  been  in  store  several  days  without  them.  While 
they  were  on  their  way  to  the  custom-house,  some  of  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  rallied  and  seized  them,  but  before  they 
could  be  concealed  they  were  retaken  by  government  offi- 
cials and  sent  on  board  a  man-of-war  in  the  harbor. 

Some  days  afterward  a  warning  letter,  directed  to  Col- 
lector Elliot,  was  thrown  into  the  post-office,  informing  him 
that  the  arms  would  be  called  for  when  wanted.  It  con- 
cluded with  these  words  : 


1115J  AN     UNWISE     PARLIAMENT.  299 

"  Do  not  slight  this  admonition,  or  treat  it  as  a  vain  menace,  for  we 
have  most  solemnly  sworn  to  effect  it  sooner  or  later,  and  you  know  our 
nation  is  implacable.  We  would  not  have  you  imagine  that  it  is  in  the 
power  of  any  set,  either  civil  or  military,  to  protect  or  shield  you  from 
our  just  revenge,  which  will  be  soon  done,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  not 
to  be  known  until  it  is  fatally  experienced  by  you. 

"  From  the  Mohawk  River  Indians." 

This  letter,  with  Elliot's  answer,  was  posted  at  the 
Coffee  House,  and  was  generally  disapproved,  as  the  col- 
lector was  a  just  and  humane  man.  But  that  night  a 
printed  hand-bill,  supposed  (as  well  as  the  letter)  to  have 
been  written  by  Lamb,  was  thrown  into  almost  every  house 
in  the  city.  It  was  an  exciting  appeal  to  the  people,  urging 
them  to  resistance. 

"In  the  name  of  heaven,"  said  the  appeal  "  throw  off  your  suspi- 
cions ;  assemble  together  immediately,  and  go  in  a  body  to  the  collector  ; 
insist  upon  the  arms  being  re-landed,  and  that  he  must  see  them  forth- 
coming or  abide  the  consequences.  Delays  are  dangerous ;  there  is  no 
time  to  be  lost.  It  is  not  a  season  to  be  mealy-mouthed  or  to  mince 
matters ;  the  times  are  precarious  and  perilous,  and  we  do  not  know 
but  the  arms  may  be  wanted  to-morrow." 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  the  republicans  acted  every 
where,  and  yet  the  British  Parliament,  blind  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  nation,  persisted  in  their  hostile  attitude  to 
the  colonies.  When  that  body  assembled,  in  January,  1775, 
they  presented  a  scene  of  great  excitement.  Dr.  Franklin, 
and  others  in  England,  had  given  a  wide  circulation  to  the 
state  papers  put  forth  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
the  English  mind  was  already  favorably  influenced  in  be- 
half of  the  Americans.  Pitt  went  on  crutches  into  the 
House  of  Lords,  from  his  retirement  in  the  country,  to 
cast  the  weight  of  his  mighty  influence  into  the  scale  of 
justice  by  action  in  that  House.  There  he  proposed  con- 
ciliatory measures.     They  were  rejected.     Burke,  Conway, 


300  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

and  Hartley,  all  in  turn,  proposed  similar  measures.  They 
were  not  only  rejected,  but  the  majority  in  Parliament 
struck  another  severe  blow  at  the  industry  of  New  Eng- 
land, by  prohibiting  fishing  on  the  Banks  of  Newfound- 
land, a  business  in  which  four  hundred  ships,  two  thousand 
shallops,  and  twenty  thousand  seamen  were  engaged.  The 
ministry  also  attempted  to  sow  dissensions  among  the 
Americans,  by  crippling  the  trade  of  the  southern  and 
middle  colonies,  but  exempting  New  York,  Delaware,  and 
North  Carolina  from  the  oppression,  these  provinces  having, 
of  late,  evinced  the  most  loyalty.  But  the  people  of  these 
colonies  indignantly  spurned  the  bait  to  win  their  allegiance, 
and  the  scheme  for  disunion  signally  failed.  The  continent 
was  united  more  strongly  than  ever  by  the  presence  of  com- 
mon dangers  and  a  perception  of  common  interests  ;  and 
when  the  spring  of  1775  opened,  all  hope  of  reconciliation 
between  England  and  her  American  colonies  had  vanished. 
Relying  upon  the  justness  of  their  cause,  and  the  favors  of 
the  Lord  God  Omnipotent,  the  republicans  resolved  to  defy 
the  fleets  and  armies  of  Great  Britain  with  which  they 
were  menaced. 

The  flame  of  war  was  first  lighted  in  the  east.  Gen- 
eral Gage  beheld  with  alarm  the  work  of  the  people  of 
Massachusetts,  in  collecting  arms  and  ammunition.  He 
was  informed  that  some  artillery  was  deposited  at  Salem, 
and  in  February  he  dispatched  Lieutenant  Colonel  Leslie 
by  water  to  Marblehead,  to  seize  and  carry  them  to  Bos- 
ton. The  whole  movement  was  made  in  secret.  The 
troops  landed  at  Marblehead  on  Sunday  morning.  An  ex- 
press carried  the  news  of  danger  to  the  people  of  Salem. 
They  were  worshiping  God  in  their  churches.  The  con- 
gregations were  immediately  dismissed,  and  rallied  around 
Colonel  Timothy  Pickering.     Led  by  him,  they  opposed 


1775.]  WAR     BEGUN.  301 

the  British,  who  had  then  reached  the  draw-bridge,  near 
the  town.  A  compromise  was  effected,  by  which  the  troops 
were  allowed  to  cross  the  bridge  and  immediately  return, 
and  they  marched  back  without  having  produced  bloodshed 
or  secured  their  plunder.  This  ridiculous  performance  al- 
lowed Trumbull,  the  poet,  to  write  a  few  weeks  after- 
ward : 

"  Through  Salem  straight,  without  delay, 
The  bold  battalion  took  its  way ; 
Marched  over  a  bridge,  in  open  sight 
Of  several  Yankees  armed  for  fight ; 
Then,  without  loss  of  time  or  men, 
Veered  round  to  Boston  back  again, 
And  found  so  well  their  projects  thrive, 
That  every  soul  got  back  alive!" 

But  a  more  serious  affair  occured  soon  afterward,  when 
an  attempt  of  a  similar  character  was  made.  On  the  1st 
of  April  Gage  had  three  thousand  armed  men  under  his  com- 
mand in  Boston.  He  felt  confident  in  his  strength,  and  in 
the  pride  of  that  confidence  he  felt  assured  that  he  could 
easily  repress  insurrections  and  keep  the  people  quiet.  He 
did  not  like  the  accumulation  of  warlike  stores  in  the  hands 
of  the  people,  which  he  was  informed  was  going  on  in  every 
direction.  He  knew  full  well  what  effect  the  boldness  of 
the  people's  representatives  would  have  upon  their  consti- 
tuents— representatives  who,  in  spite  of  his  frowns,  had 
met,  ninety  in  number,  and  formed  a  provincial  congress, 
with  John  Hancock  at  their  head.  They  had  repudiated 
royal  authority ;  made  provision  for  an  army  of  twelve 
thousand  men  ;  solicited  other  colonies  to  follow  their  ex- 
ample, and  augment  the  army  to  twenty  thousand  ;  and 
commisioned  officers  of  experience  in  the  French  and  In- 
dian war  to  be  the  generals  of  the  host. 

When  Gage  reflected  upon  these  movements  he  felt 
uneasy,  notwithstanding  his  confidence  in  his  balls  and 


302  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JSt.  42. 

bayonets  ;  and  towards  midnight,  on  the  18  th  of  April,  he 
dispatched  eight  hundred  men,  under  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Smith  and  Major  Pitcairn,  to  destroy  military  stores  which 
the  republicans  had  gathered  at  Concord,  less  than  twenty 
miles  from  Boston.  The  expedition  was  conducted  with 
the  most  perfect  secrecy,  yet  vigilant  eyes  were  upon  the 
actors.  Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  one  of  the  early  martyrs  of 
the  Ee volution,  had  been  watching  Gage's  movements  with 

7  O  O 

sleepless  vigilance.  Early  in  the  evening  he  became  aware 
of  the  expedition,  and  as  soon  as  the  troops  moved  from 
the  city,  Paul  Kevere,  by  Warren's  direction,  crossed  to 
Charlestown,  and  made  his  way  toward  Concord  with  all 
possible  dispatch,  to  arouse  the  inhabitants  and  summon 
the  minute-men  to  the  field.  The  effort  was  effectual. 
The  clangor  of  church  bells,  the  roar  of  cannon,  and  the 
sharp  crack  of  musketry,  soon  heard  in  all  directions, 
aroused  the  country  ;  and  when  at  dawn,  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th,  Pitcairn,  who  led  the  advance,  reached  Lex- 
ington, a  few  miles  from  Concord,  he  found  seventy  deter- 
mined men  drawn  up  on  the  village  green  to  oppose  him. 
With  bitter  scorn,  as  he  rode  forward,  he  called  them 
"Rebels  \"  He  shouted  "Disperse  !  disperse  !  Lay  down 
your  arms  and  disperse,  ye  rebels  !"  They  stood  firm,  and 
he  ordered  his  men  to  fire.  Then  the  first  blood  of  the 
Revolution  flowed.  Seven  citizens  were  killed,  and  several 
were  wounded.  The  survivors  returned  a  feeble  fire,  and 
then,  by  order  of  their  leader,  they  dispersed.  "  Oh  what 
a  glorious  morning  is  this  !"  cried  Samuel  Adams,  who, 
with  John  Hancock,  had  been  attainted  by  royal  decree  as 
arch-rebels,  and  had  slept  that  night  in  Lexington. 

It  was  indeed  a  glorious  morning.  The  Source  of  Day 
arose  in  splendor  an  hour  after  the  delicate  grass  on  the 
green  at  Lexington  had  been  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of 


m5.]  A     CONTINENT     IN     ARMS.  303 

martyrs,  and  typified  the  ascension  of  the  Sun  of  Liberty, 
which  on  that  day  arose  and  shed  its  vivifying  rays  over 
the  continent.  While  the  British  troops,  spurred  on  by  a 
sense  of  gathering  danger,  were  shedding  more  blood  at 
Concord,  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  execute  their  master's  or- 
ders, or  were  making  an  inglorious  retreat  towards  Boston, 
terribly  smitten  by  the  exasperated  people  on  every  hand, 
intelligence  of  the  massacre  was  speeding  over  the  land  as 
fast  as  fleet  horses  could  bear  the  messengers  ;  and  with 
one  impulse  the  colonists  grasped  their  weapons  and  pre- 
pared for  the  inevitable  struggle.  Deliberation's  voice  was 
hushed,  and  the  strong  right  arm  was  regarded  as  the  as- 
serter  of  the  people's  rights  henceforward.  The  sword  was 
now  drawn,  and  the  scabbard  was  cast  away.  From  the 
Penobscot  to  the  St.  Mary — from  the  capes  of  the  Atlan- 
tic coast  to  the  most  shaded  valley  beyond  the  Alleghanies 
where  the  smoke  of  the  pioneer's  camp  fires  were  seen,  the 
sentiment  "  Liberty  or  Death  !"  which  had  just  been 
uttered  by  the  lips  of  Patrick  Henry,  vibrated  upon  the 
strings  of  every  heart  in  tune  with  the  song  of  the  angels, 
over  the  plains  of  Bethlehem,  when  the  Prince  of  Peace 
was  born. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

We  have  seen  how  the  republicans  failed  in  their  ef- 
forts, in  the  New  York  Assembly,  to  procure  the  appoint- 
ment of  delegates  to  the  second  Continental  Congress,  to 
be  convened  at  Philadelphia  in  May.  Nothing  was  left 
for  them  to  do  but  to  appeal  to  the  people.  The  General 
Committee  of  sixty  members,  many  of  them  of  the  loyal 
majority  in  the  assembly,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  popular 
sentiment,  called  a  meeting  of  the  freeholders  and  freemen 
of  the  city  at  the  Exchange,  to  take  into  consideration  the 
election  of  delegates  to  a  convention  of  representatives  from 
such  of  the  counties  of  the  province  as  should  adopt  the 
measure,  the  sole  object  of  such  convention  being  the  choice 
of  proper  persons  to  represent  the  colony  in  the  Continen- 
tal Congress. 

This  movement  was  opposed  by  the  loyalists  as  disre- 
spectful to  the  assembly,  who  had  refused  to  appoint  dele- 
gates ;  but  the  people  were  now  driven  to  a  point  where 
respect  for  authorities  whose  views  were  not  in  consonance 
with  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  free  discussion,  was  almost 
unknown.  They  accordingly  assembled  in  great  numbers 
around  the  Liberty  Pole  on  the  6th,  bearing  a  banner, 
inscribed,  "  Constitutional  Liberty,"  and  marched  in  pro- 
cession to  the  Exchange.  The  loyalists  soon  afterward  ap- 
peared there  in  considerable  numbers,  headed  by  members 
of  the  council  and  the  assembly,  with  officers  of  the  army 


1775.]  PROVINCIAL     CONVENTION.  305 

and  navy,  expecting,  no  doubt,  to  overawe  the  republicans. 
At  first  there  was  confusion.  This  soon  subsided,  and  the 
meeting  proceeded  with  calmness  and  dignity  to  nominate 
eleven  persons  to  represent  the  city  in  a  provincial  conven- 
tion to  be  held  in  New  York  on  the  20th,  who  were  to  be 
instructed  to  choose  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress. 

On  the  following  day  the  chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Sixty  gave  notice  of  the  proposed  convention  on  the 
20th  to  the  chairmen  of  the  committees  of  correspondence 
in  the  different  counties,  advising  them  to  choose  delegates 
to  the  same.  There  was  a  prompt  response.  In  some  of 
the  counties  the  deputies  were  chosen  by  the  committees 
of  correspondence  ;  in  others  by  a  convention  of  commit- 
tees chosen  in  different  parts  of  the  county  ;  in  others  the 
several  towns  chose  each  a  delegate  ;  in  Orange  county  the 
freeholders  made  the  choice,  as  in  the  election  of  assembly- 
men ;  and  in  the  city  of  New  York  they  were  chosen  by 
ward  meetings.  All  of  these  produced  at  the  convention  a 
certificate  of  their  election  from  proper  authorities. 

The  convention  assembled  at  the  Exchange,  in  New 
York,  on  the  20th,  and  consisted  of  forty- two  members.''* 
Colonel  Schuyler  was  at  the  head  of  the  delegation  from 
Albany,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the  convention.    Philip 

*  These  were  for  the  City  and  County  of  New  York — Philip  Livingston,  John 
Alsop,  James  Duane,  John  Jay,  Leonard  Lispenard,  Francis  Lewis,  Abraham 
Walton,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  Alexander  M'Dougall,  and  Abraham  Brasher.  For 
the  City  and  County  of  Albany — Philip  Schuyler,  Abraham  Tenbroeck,  and 
Abraham  Yates,  jr.  For  Ulster  County — Charles  Devvitt,  George  Clinton,  and 
Levi  Paulding.  For  Orange  County — A.  Hawkes  Hay,  Henry  Wisner,  John 
Herring.  Peter  Clowes,  Israel  Seeley.  For  Westchester  County — Lewis  Morris, 
John  Thomas,  Robert  Graham,  Philip  Van  Courtlandt.  Samuel  Drake,  Stephen 
"Ward.  For  Duchess  County — Morris  Graham,  Robert  R.  Livingston,  jr.,  Eg- 
bert Benson.  For  Kings  County — Simon  Boerum,  Richard  Stillwell,  Theodoras 
Polhemus,  Denice  Denice,  John  Vanderbilt.  For  Suffolk  County—  William 
Floyd,  Nathaniel  Woodhull,  Phineas  Farring,  Thomas  Tread  well,  John  Slosa 
Hobart.    For  Newtown  and  Flushing — Jacob  Black  well,  John  Talman. 


306  PHILIF     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

Livingston  was  chosen  president  of  the  convention,  and 
John  M'Kesson  secretary.  This  was  the  first  provincial 
convention  in  New  York — the  first  positive  expression  of 
the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty  in  that  province.  They 
remained  in  session  three  days,  and  chose  for  delegates  to 
the  Continental  Congress  Philip  Livingston,  James  Duane, 
John  Alsop,  John  Jay,  Simon  Boerum,  William  Floyd, 
Henry  Wisner,  Philip  Schuyler,  George  Clinton,  Lewis 
Morris,  Francis  Lewis,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston,  to  whom 
were  given  full  power,  "  or  any  five  of  them,  to  meet  the 
delegates  from  other  colonies,  and  to  concert  and  deter- 
mine upon  such  measures  as  shall  be  judged  most  effectual 
for  the  preservation  and  reestablishment  of  American  rights 
and  privileges,  and  for  the  restoration  of  harmony  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies." 

While  this  convention  was  in  session  intelligence  of 
the  bloodshed  at  Lexington  was  on  its  way,  but  did  not 
reach  New  York  until  the  day  after  the  adjournment.  It 
was  then  only  a  vague  rumor,  but,  notwithstanding  it  was 
the  Sabbath,  the  Sons  of  Liberty  got  together,  and  speed- 
ily unloaded  two  vessels  that  were  about  to  sail  for  Boston 
with  flour  for  the  British  troops.  Towards  evening  they 
secured  a  large  quantity  of  the  public  arms,  took  possession 
of  the  City  Hall,  and  placed  a  guard  of  one  hundred  men 
at  its  door,  and  another  hundred  at  the  powder  magazine, 
to  keep  these  munitions  of  war  for  the  use  of  the  people. 

On  Monday,  the  24th,  Colonel  Schuyler  left  for  Albany 
in  a  sloop.  Authentic  intelligence  from  Boston  had  not 
yet  reached  New  York.  It  came  the  following  day,  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Expresses  were  immediately 
sent  up  the  Hudson  by  a  sloop  about  to  sail  with  a  fair 
wind.  Calms  succeeded,  and  it  was  Friday,  the  28th,  be- 
fore the  confirmed  intelligence  reached  the  committee  of 


1775.]  PATRIOTIC     LETTER.  307 

correspondence  at  Albany,  and  was  spread  by  swift  couriers 
over  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  vallies. 

Colonel  Schuyler  was  at  his  seat  at  Saratoga,  when, 
late  on  Saturday,  the  news  reached  him.  That  evening  he 
wrote  as  follows  to  his  friend  John  Cruger,  chairman  of 
the  assembly's  committee  of  correspondence,  who  was  pre- 
paring for  a  voyage  to  England  on  account  of  ill-health  : 

"  Of  course  long  ere  this  you  have  received  the  news  from  Boston. 
My  heart  bleeds  as  I  view  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  but  we  have  only 
left  us  the  choice  between  such  evils  and  slavery.  For  myself,  I  can 
say  with  Semprenius : 

'  Heavens !  can  a  Roman  Senate  long  debate 
Which  of  the  two  to  choose,  slavery  or  death ! 
No;  let  us  arise  at  once,'  etc. 

for  we  should  be  unworthy  of  our  ancestors  if  we  should  tamely  submit 
to  an  insolent  and  wicked  ministry,  and  supinely  wait  for  a  gracious  an- 
swer to  a  petition  to  the  King,  of  which,  as  a  member  of  the  assembly 
who  sent  it,  I  am  ashamed.  I  know  there  are  difficulties  in  the  way. 
The  loyal  and  the  timid  in  this  province  are  many,  yet  I  believe  that 
when  the  question  is  fairly  put,  as  it  is  really  so  put  by  this  massacre  in 
Massachusetts  Bay,  whether  we  shall  be  ruled  by  a  military  despotism, 
or  fight  for  right  and  freedom  ?  the  great  majority  of  the  people  will 
choose  the  latter.  For  my  own  part,  much  as  I  love  peace — much  as  I 
love  my  domestic  happiness  and  repose,  and  desire  to  see  my  country- 
men enjoying  the  blessings  flowing  from  undisturbed  industry,  I  would 
rather  see  all  these  scattered  to  the  winds  for  a  time,  and  the  sword  of 
desolation  go  over  the  land,  than  to  recede  one  line  from  the  just  and 
righteous  position  we  have  taken  as  freeborn  subjects  of  Great  Britain. 
"  I  beg  you,  my  dear  sir,  if  your'  health  shall  permit  when  you  ar- 
rive in  England,  to  use  all  your  influence  there  to  convince  the  people 
and  the  rulers  that  we  were  never  more  determined  to  ccntend  for  our 
rights  than  at  this  moment — that  we  consider  ourselves  not  aggressors, 
but  defenders — and  that  he  who  believes  that  our  late  assembly  truly 
represented  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  our  people  is  greatly  deceived.  I 
have  watched  the  course  of  the  political  currents  for  many  months  with 
great  anxiety,  and  have  been,  for  more  than  a  year,  fully  convinced  that 
unless  Great  Britain  should  be  more  just  and  wise  than  in  times  past, 
war  was  inevitable.  It  is  now  actually  begun ;  and  in  the  spirit  of 
Joshua  I  say,  I  care  not  what  others  may  do,  '  as  for  me  and  my  house, 
we  will  serve  our  country." 


308  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

On  the  following  day  Colonel  Schuyler,  as  usual,  at- 
tended public  worship.  The  news  from  the  east  had  already 
spread  over  the  neighborhood. 

"  I  well  remember,"  records  an  eye-witness,  "  notwithstanding  my 
youth,  the  impressive  manner  with  which,  in  my  hearing,  my  father 
told  my  uncle  that  blood  had  been  shed  at  Lexington !  The  startling 
intelligence  spread  like  wild-fire  among  the  congregation.  The  preacher's 
voice  was  listened  to  with  very  little  attention.  After  the  morning  dis- 
course was  finished  and  the  people  were  dismissed,  we  gathered  about 
General  Philip  Schuyler  for  further  information.  He  was  the  oracle  of 
our  neighborhood.  We  looked  up  to  him  with  a  feeling  of  respect  and 
affection.  His  popularity  was  unbounded  ;  his  views  upon  all  subjects 
were  considered  sound,  and  his  anticipations  almost  prophetic.  On  this 
occasion  he  confirmed  the  intelligence  already  received,  and  expressed 
his  belief  that  an  important  crisis  had  arrived  which  must  for  ever  sepa- 
rate us  from  the  parent  state."* 

The  intelligence  from  the  east  came  at  a  moment  when 
the  republicans  of  New  York  were  powerfully  stirred  by 
local  events.  Sears,  the  great  leader  of  the  Liberty  Boys, 
had  been  arrested  for  seditious  words,  because  he  had  ad- 
vised the  people  at  a  public  meeting  to  arm  themselves  and 
prepare  for  conflict.  He  refused  to  'give  bail,  and  was  on 
his  way  to  prison,  when  his  political  friends  took  him  from 
the  officers  and  bore  him  in  triumph  through  the  town, 
preceded  by  a  band  of  music  and  a  banner.  The  royal 
government  was  powerless.  The  acting  governor  of  the 
province  and  the  mayor  of  the  city  had  lost  all  control,  co- 
ercive or  persuasive.  The  Liberty  Boys,  with  the  embold- 
ened Sears  at  their  head,  had  closed  the  custom-house  and 
laid  an  embargo  upon  vessels  in  the  harbor. 

All  power  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  A  new 
committee  of  one  hundred  citizens  were  chosen  in  place  of 
the  Committee  of  Sixty,  and  it  was  resolved  that  a  provin- 
cial congress  ought  speedily  to  be  assembled,  who  should 

*  The  Sexagenary,  or  Reminiscences  of  the  American  Revolution,  page  20. 


1*775.]  PROVINCIAL     CONGRESS.  309 

take  the  government  into  their  own  hands,  provide  for  all 
contingencies  that  might  arise,  and  prepare  the  province 
for  defense  against  hostile  invasion. 

A  circular  letter  was  sent  to  the  several  county  com- 
mittees, proposing  the  election  of  deputies  to  a  provincial 
congress  to  be  held  in  the  city  of  New  York,  its  sessions  to 
commence  on  the  21st  of  May.  An  address  was  drawn  up 
to  the  Lord  Mayor  and  common  council  of  London,  ex- 
planatory of  the  views  of  the  republicans  in  America,  set- 
ting forth  their  rights,  and  expressing  their  determination  to 
maintain  them.  A  military  association  was  formed,  under 
Samuel  Broome  ;  and  a  paper,  in  the  form  of  a  league,  to 
be  signed  by  the  people  at  large,  was  prepared,  in  which, 
after  declaring  their  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  union, 
they  resolved  "  in  the  most  solemn  manner  never  to  become 
slaves,  and  to  associate,  under  all  the  ties  of  religion,  honor, 
and  love  to  their  country,  to  adopt  and  endeavor  to  carry 
into  execution  whatever  measures  may  be  recommended  by 
the  Continental  Congress,  or  resolved  upon  by  the  provincial 
convention,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  their  constitution 
and  opposing  the  execution  of  the  several  arbitrary  and  op- 
pressive acts  of  the  British  Parliament,  until  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  Great  Britain  and  America,  on  constitutional 
principles,  which  is  most  ardently  desired,  can  be  obtained." 

Elections  were  speedily  held  throughout  the  province, 
in  a  manner  nearly  the  same  as  in  the  preceding  canvass 
and  on  Tuesday,  the  23d  day  of  May,  about  seventy  of 
eighty-one  delegates  elected  assembled  at  the  Exchange, 
in  New  York,  and  organized  a  provincial  congress  by  choos- 
ing Peter  Van  Brugh  Livingston  for  president,  Volkert  P. 
Douw  vice-president,  and  John  M'Kesson  and  Kobert  Ben- 
son secretaries. 

While  the  people  of  New  York  were  thus  moving  in 


310  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  42. 

the  opening  scene  of  the  drama  of  the  Revolution,  events 
of  the  greatest  moment  had  taken  place  elsewhere,  having 
the  same  tendency.  Even  before  the  tragedies  at  Lexing- 
ton and  Concord,  Patrick  Henry  had  electrified  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly  at  Richmond  with  that  great  speech  whose 
peroration  was  "  Give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death!"  And 
before  his  prophecy,  that  "  the  next  gale  that  sweeps  from 
the  north  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash  of  resounding 
arms  !"  was  fulfilled,  he  had  marched  upon  Williamsburg, 
the  residence  of  the  royal  governor,  and  compelled  him  to 
make  full  restitution  for  powder  belonging  to  the  province, 
which  had  been  secretly  conveyed  on  board  a  British  man- 
of-war  lying  in  the  York  river.  Already  the  patriots  of 
Charleston  and  Savannah  had  seized  the  arms  and  ammu- 
nition of  their  respective  provinces,  and  made  their  governors 
tremble  for  their  personal  safety  ;  and  as  the  intelligence 
of  bloodshed  went  from  colony  to  colony,  steps  were  taken 
for  the  assembling  of  provincial  congresses  and  abolish- 
ing royal  rule.  Before  the  middle  of  June,  when  the 
first  real  battle  of  the  Revolution  was  fought  on  Breed's 
Hill,  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies  had  virtually  if  not 
actually  repudiated  royal  authority,  and  were  controlled  by 
that  only  just  government  which  is  based  upon  a  righteous 
popular  will. 

Some  aggressive  enterprises  were  also  undertaken  by 
the  republicans,  the  most  important  of  which  occurred  in 
the  province  of  New  York,  but  not  by  its  citizens. 

"  It  has  been  proposed  to  us,"  wrote  Joseph  Warren,  in  behalf  of 
the  Massachusetts  Committee  of  Safety,  to  the  committee  of  New  York, 
on  the  30th  of  April,  "  to  take  possession  of  the  fortress  at  Ticonderoga. 
We  have  a  just  sense  of  the  importance  of  that  fortification,  and  the 
usefulness  of  those  fine  cannon,  mortars,  and  field-pieces  which  are 
there ;  but  we  would  not,  even  upon  this  emergency,  infringe  upon  the 
rights  of  our  sister  colony,  New  York.     But  we  have  desired  the  gen- 


1775.]         AN     AGGRESSIVE     EXPEDITION.  311 

tleman  who  carries  this  letter  to  represent  the  matter  to  you,  that  you 
may  give  such  orders  as  are  agreeable  to  you." 

The  proposition  alluded  to  by  Warren  was  made  by 
Benedict  Arnold,  a  druggist  and  bookseller,  of  New  Ha- 
ven, Connecticut,  and  captain  of  one  of  the  train-bands 
of  that  town.  On  hearing  of  the  skirmish  at  Lexington, 
he  had  hastened  to  Cambridge  with  his  company  of  volun- 
teers. Before  he  left,  a  plan  had  been  crudely  formed  by 
members  of  the  Connecticut  assembly,  to  attempt  the  sur- 
prise of  the  garrison  and  the  capture  of  the  fort  at  Ticonde- 
roga,  if  on  inquiry  it  should  be  deemed  expedient.  Of  this 
Arnold  had  doubtless  heard. 

While  the  committee  at  Cambridge  were  waiting  for  an 
answer  from  New  York,  the  Connecticut  people  had  moved. 
One  thousand  dollars  were  advanced  from  the  colonial  treas- 
ury to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  expedition ;  not,  how- 
ever, by  the  open  sanction  of  the  assembly,  but  by  its 
tacit  consent.  A  committee  of  two  persons  was  appointed 
to  proceed  to  the  frontier  towns,  to  make  inquiries  and  act 
as  circumstances  should  dictate.  They  were  joined  by  a 
few  more  in  Connecticut.  On  their  consulting  Colonels 
Easton  and  Brown,  at  Pittsfield,  in  Western  Massachu- 
setts, these  officers  both  agreed  to  join  in  the  enterprise, 
and  the  latter  immediately  enlisted  about  forty  of  his  regi- 
ment as  volunteers.  The  whole  party  then  went  on  to 
Bennington,  the  home  of  Ethan  Allen,  whose  influence  in 
the  New  Hampshire  Grants  was  almost  boundless.  The 
Green  Mountain  Boys,  as  the  train-bands  were  named,  were 
ready  to  obey  his  call  at  a  moment's  warning.  The  enter- 
prise suited  Allen's  nature  and  aspirations,  and  he  joined 
the  expedition  with  a  strong  corps.  At  twilight,  on  the 
7th  of  May,  the  whole  party  halted  at  Castleton  and  held  a 
council  of  war.     Colonel  Allen  was  appointed  commander- 


312  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  42. 

in-chief,  Colonel  Easton  his  lieutenant,  and  Colonel  Seth 
Warner,  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys;  the  third  in  com- 
mand. 

Arnold,  meanwhile,  under  the  sanction  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts committee  and  the  consent  of  the  Massachusetts 
Provincial  Congress,  had  also  been  forming  an  expedition 
for  the  same  purpose,  and  had  procured  for  himself  the 
chief  command  of  it.  He  was  commisioned  a  colonel  by 
the  Provincial  Congress,  furnished  with  means,  and  author- 
ized to  raise,  in  western  Massachusetts,  not  more  than  four 
hundred  men  for  the  expedition.  On  reaching  Stockbridge 
he  was  disappointed  by  finding  another  expedition  already 
in  the  field.  Engaging  a  few  followers  he  hastened  onward 
and  joined  the  others  at  Castle  ton.  Because  of  his  com- 
mission, he  claimed  the  right  to  chief  command.  His 
pretensions  were  disallowed.  The  Green  Mountain  Boys 
declared  that  they  would  shoulder  their  muskets  and  march 
home  before  they  would  follow  any  other  man  than  Colonel 
Allen. 

Arnold  yielded,  but  with  a  bad  grace.  He  joined  the 
expedition  as  a  volunteer,  retaining  his  commission  but 
having  no  command.  With  hasty  steps  they  pressed  for- 
ward, for  they  feared  information  of  their  movement  might 
reach  the  fort.  On  the  evening  of  the  9th  of  May  they 
were  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  opposite  the  fort- 
ress ;  and  at  dawn  the  next  morning  the  officers  and  eighty- 
three  men  were  upon  the  beach  at  Ticonderoga,  sheltered 
by  the  bluff  on  which  stood  the  old  grenadier's  battery  built 
by  the  French.  They  dared  not  wait  for  the  arrival  of  the 
remainder  of  their  comrades,  for  daylight  might  be  fatal 
to  the  enterprise. 

In  the  dim  light  of  the  early  morning,  Colonel  Allen, 
with  Arnold  at  his  side,  followed  the  lead  of  a  lad  who 


1775.]        SURRENDER     OF     TICONDEROGA.  313 

well  knew  the  intricacies  of  the  fort,  and  went  stealthily 
up  the  slope  to  the  sally-port.  The  sentinel  then  snapped 
his  fusee,  and  iled  along  the  covered  way  to  alarm  the  gar- 
rison. The  invaders  followed  him  closely,  and  were  led  by 
the  frightened  fugitive  directly  to  the  parade  within.  Ar- 
raying themselves  in  proper  order,  the  New  Englanders 
wakened  the  sleeping  garrison  with  a  tremendous  shout, 
while  the  gallant  leader  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  as- 
cended a  staircase  to  the  chamber  of  Captain  De  Laplace, 
the  commander,  and  beating  the  door  with  the  handle  of 
his  heavy  sword,  he  cried  out,  with  stentorian  voice,  "  I 
demand  a  surrender  !" 

De  Laplace  started  frotn  his  bed,  followed  by  his  trem- 
bling wife,  and  opening  the  door  saw  and  recognized  Allen. 
"  Your  errand  ?"  he  boldly  asked  the  intruder.  Pointing 
to  his  men,  Allen  answered,  "  I  order  you  to  surrender  im- 
mediately I"  "  By  what  authority  do  you  demand  it  ?" 
asked  the  indignant  De  Laplace.  "The  Great  Jehovah 
and  the  Continental  Congress,"  said  Allen,  with  terrible 
emphasis,  at  the"  same  time  flourishing  his  broadsword 
over  the  head  of  the  now  terrified  commander,  and  order- 
ing him  to  be  silent.  Although  the  Continental  Congress  did 
not  commence  its  session  until  several  hours  after  this  per- 
emptory demand,  and  De  Laplace  doubted  Allen's  divine  au- 
thority, while  he  knew  that  George  was  King  "  by  the  grace 
of  God,"  he  took  counsel  of  necessity  and  surrendered  to  the 
republicans  the  fortress  and  its  dependencies,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  articles  precisely  such  as  the  gathering  armies 
of  patriots  needed.  No  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty 
iron  cannon,  fifty  swivels,  two  mortars,  a  howitzer,  a  co- 
horn,  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition  and  other  stores,  and 
a  warehouse  full  of  naval  munitions,  and  abundant  pro- 
visions, were  the  spoils  of  victory.     Forty-eight  men,  wo- 

14 


314  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  42. 

men,  and  children,  were  sent  prisoners  of  war  to  Hartford, 
in  Connecticut. 

Soon  after  the  surrender  was  effected,  Colonel  War- 
ner arrived  with  the  remainder  of  the  expedition,  and  on 
the  12th  he  took  possession  of  Crown  Point.  Thus  a 
handful  of  determined  men,  inexperienced  in  the  art  of 
war,  accomplished  in  the  space  of  three  days  what  expedi- 
tion after  expedition  had  failed  to  do  in  the  wars  with  the 
French  ;  and  at  the  outset  of  the  Revolution  the  Republi- 
cans had  the  advantage  of  the  possession  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  and  the  key  to  Canada. 

Arnold  now  again  claimed  a  right  to  chief  command, 
but  his  pretensions  were  resisted  as  before.  The  semi- 
official committee  from  Connecticut,  having  the  expedition 
in  charge,  formally  installed  Colonel  Allen  commander-in- 
chief  of  Ticonderoga  and  its  dependencies,  and  authorized 
him  to  remain  as  such  until  he  should  receive  further  or- 
ders from  the  Connecticut  Assembly  or  the  Continental 
Congress.  Arnold  reluctantly  yielded,  sent  a  protest  to 
the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  from  whom  he 
had  received  his  commission,  and  then  went  down  the  lake 
in  command  of  a  sort  of  amphibious  expedition.  We 
shall  meet  him  frequently  hereafter. 

The  second  Continental  Congress  assembled  in  Carpen- 
ter's Hall  on  Wednesday,  the  10th  of  May,  1775,  when 
Peyton  Randolph  was  unanimously  chosen  president,  and 
Charles  Thomson  secretary.  It  was  agreed  that  its  sessions 
should  be  secret.  On  the  13th  there  was  a  representation 
present  from  all  of  the  thirteen  provinces. 

Grave  questions  arose  when  the  congress  had  assembled 
and  were  prepared  for  business.  Whom  did  they  repre- 
sent ?  and  what  might  they  do  ?  According  to  the  terms 
of  their  appointment,  this  body  was  no  more  a  legislative 


m5.1     SECOND    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS.      315 

one  than  the  congress  of  1774.  It  was  composed  of  simple 
committees,  met  to  consult  on  measures  for  the  public 
good.  No  executive  or  even  legislative  powers  had  been 
delegated  to  any  of  these  committees,  and  yet,  by  the 
common  consent  of  the  continent  they  were  regarded  as  a 
governmental  power.  The  nation,  not  yet  crystallyzed  into 
a  confederacy,  was  menaced  with  imminent  danger.  The 
sovereign  of  the  realm  to  which  they  belonged  had  declared 
them  rebels.  Clashing  interests,  geographical  divisions, 
and  sectional  habits,  made  them  an  apparently  heterogene- 
ous people,  difficult  to  be  brought  into  social  and  political 
affinity. 

Shall  we  confederate  ?  Shall  we  legislate  as  well  as 
deliberate  ?  Shall  we  attempt  the  exercise  of  executive 
power  ?  These  were  serious  questions  that  arose  in  the 
minds  of  the  deputies.  They  were  soon  answered  by  the 
faith  of  the  people.  The  great  body  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  colonies  regarded  the  General  Congress  as  the  arbiter 
and  director  of  public  affairs  for  the  whole  continent  in 
sympathy.  The  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  ex- 
pressed this,  when,  seven  days  before  the  Continental  Con- 
gress met,  they  prepared  a  communication  to  that  body, 
saying  :  "The  sudden  exigency  of  our  public  affairs  pre- 
cluded the  possibility  of  waiting  for  your  directions  in 
these  important  measures;"  [raising  and  providing  an  army] 
and  by  asking  for  the  direction  and  assistance  of  congress, 
and  suggesting  that  an  American  army  should  be  forthwith 
raised. 

Colonel  Schuyler  left  Albany  for  Philadelphia  on  the  9th 
of  May,  bearing  to  the  committee  at  New  York  a  letter  from 
that  of  his  own  county,  asking  advice  concerning  the  sup- 
plying with  provisions  troops  from  Connecticut  in  their  ex- 
pected attack  upon  Ticonderoga.     He  reached  Philadelphia 


316  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^]T.  42. 

on  the  15th,  and  on  the  same  day  took  his  seat  in  congress 
with  his  colleagues.  Franklin,  convinced  that  reconcilia- 
tion with  Great  Britain  was  next  to  impossible,  had  lately 
returned  home,  and  was  now  in  the  congress  with  Samuel 
and  John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  Jay  and  Livingston, 
of  New  York,  Washington,  Henry,  and  Lee,  of  Virginia, 
Kutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  and  almost  fifty  other  pa- 
triots of  less  note — the  best  men  to  be  found  in  the  col- 
onies. 

The  congress,  somewhat  doubtful  of  their  powers,  moved 
cautiously.  At  the  very  beginning  of  this  session  a  question 
of  vital  importance  was  propounded  by  the  New  Yoik  com- 
mittee for  their  solution.  Intelligence  had  arrived  that 
British  troops  were  about  to  be  landed  in  that  city  to  quiet 
the  rebellion,  in  imitation  of  the  armed  occupancy  of  Bos- 
ton the  year  before.  An  address  had  been  presented  to 
Lieutenant  Governor  Colden,  which,  after  commenting 
upon  passing  events,  requested  hiin  to  use  his  influence 
with  General  Gage,  to  prohibit  the  landing  of  such  troops 
as  had  been  ordered  to  that  station.  Colden  assured  them 
that  no  troops  were  expected,  and  suggested  that  the  rumor 
was  put  in  circulation  to  justify  the  calling  in  of  rebel 
troops  from  Connecticut,  who  had  collected  under  Wooster, 
and  were  hovering  upon  the  eastern  borders  of  New  York. 
This  assurance  was  false,  for  troops  soon  arrived  at  Sandy 
Hook  but  were  ordered  to  Boston. 

Meanwhile  the  New  York  committee  asked  the  advice 
of  the  congress  as  to  their  course  in  the  event  of  the  troops 
attempting  to  land.  With  "  scrupulous  timidity,"  as  Ed- 
mund Burke  said,  the  congress  recommended  the  colony  of 
New  York  to  act  on  the  defensive  fur  the  present,  "so  long 
as  may  be  consistent  with  their  safety  and  security  ;  that 
the  troops  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  barracks  so  long  as 


1775.]  EMBARRASSED     LEGISLATURES.  317 

they  behave  peaceably  and  quietly,  but  that  they  be  not 
suffered  to  erect  fortifications,  or  take  any  steps  for  cutting 
off  the  communication  between  the  town  and  country  ;  and 
that  if  they  commit  hostilities  or  invade  private  property  the 
inhabitants  should  defend  themselves  and  their  property, 
and  repel  force  by  force  ;  that  the  warlike  stores  be  removed 
from  the  town  ;  that  places  of  retreat,  in  case  of  necessity, 
be  provided  for  the  women  and  children  of  New  York  ; 
and  that  a  sufficient  number  of  men  be  embodied  and  kept 
in  constant  readiness  for  protecting  the  inhabitants  from 
insult  and  injury."* 

This  course  was  doubtless  thought  to  be  expedient,  but 
the  advice  embarrassed  the  action  of  the  Provincial  Congress 
of  New  York,  who  assembled  a  week  later.  It  recognized 
the  existing  royal  government  in  the  province,  with  all  its 
machinery  of  civil,  military,  and  naval  power.  It  also 
embarrassed  the  Continental  Congress,  for,  three  days  af- 
terward, intelligence  reached  them  of  the  capture  of  Ticon- 
deroga  and  Crown  Point.  What  should  be  done  ?  They  had 
already  resolved  to  send  a  humble  petition  to  the  King,  and 
make  overtures  for  a  reconciliation.  They  had  advised  New 
York  to  submit  conditionally  to  royal  authority,  but  here 
was  an  overt  act  of  rebellion — an  actual  beginning  of  of- 
fensive war.  Must  they  disclaim  it  and  lose  the  advantage 
gained  ? 

An  invasion  of  Canada  had  been  thought  of,  and  now 
the  way  for  success  seemed  open.  But,  for  a  moment, 
the  congress  shrunk  from  the  responsibility,  and  advised 
the  committees  of  New  York  and  Albany  to  remove  the 
spoils  taken  at  Ticonderoga  to  the  head  of  Lake  George, 
to  prevent  them  from  being  recaptured  by  a  force  from 
Canada ;  and  that  "  an  exact  inventory  be  taken  of  all 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  May  5,  1775. 


318  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JET.  42. 

such  cannon  and  stores,  in  order  that  they  may  be  safely 
returned  when  the  restoration  of  the  former  harmony  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  the  colonies,  so  ardently  wished 
for  by  the  latter,  shall  render  it  prudent  and  consistent 
with  the  overruling  law  of  self-preservation."* 
[  On  the  15th,  the  congress  appointed  Colonel  Washing- 
ton, Samuel  Adams,  and  Thomas  Lynch,  a  committee  to 
consider  what  posts  were  necessary  to  occupy  in  the  colony 
of  New  York,  and  agreed  that  on  the  following  day  the 
congress  should  "  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole  to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  America." 
The  latter  topic  occupied  the  attention  of  that  august 
body  for  many  days.  While  a  few  among  them  desired 
political  independence,  the  greater  proportion  only  wished 
for  reconciliation,  for  their  attachment  to  home,  as  England 
was  still  called,  was  almost  as  strong  as  their  love  of  lib- 
erty and  sense  of  oppression.  But  every  day  brought 
them  fresh  reasons  for  believing  a  reconciliation  to  be 
doubtful,  and  every  day  they  felt  the  necessity  more  and 
more  of  preparing  for  a  conflict  of  arms.  Taking  counsel 
of  prudence,  they  recommended  vigorous  preparations  for 
war,  while  holding  out  to  the  mother  country,  with  the 
hand  of  true  affection,  the  olive  branch  of  peace. 

The  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  met  on  the  22d 
of  May.  The  political  complexion  of  that  body  disap- 
pointed the  people.  The  old  leaven  of  Toryism  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  late  colonial  assembly  was  evidently  a  power 
in  the  new  conclave.  It  appeared  early  in  several  minor 
acts,  but  most  decidedly  when  John  Morin  Scott  moved 
that  as  the  colony  of  New  York  had  not  given  such  public 
testimonials  of  its  cordial  accession  to  the  confederacy  of 
the  colonies  as  others  had  done,  by  approving  of  the  acts 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  May  18,  1115. 


1775.]  POSITION     OF     NEW     YORK.  319 

of  the  Continental  Congress  of  1774,  "  this  congress  do 
fully  approve  of  the  proceedings  of  said  congress."*  This 
motion  met  with  decided  opposition,  and  elicted  a  warm 
debate.  It  was  this  debate,  on  a  subject  where  there  could 
not  be  a  diversity  of  sentiment  among  true  patriots, 
that  alarmed  the  republicans. 

Doubtless  during  the  few  years  preceding  the  kindling 
of  the  Revolution,  and  the  earlier  period  of  the  contest, 
there  were  more  active  and  influential  friends  of  the  crown 
in  New  York  than  in  any  other  province.  This  was  owing 
in  part  to  its  geographical  and  commercial  position,  but  es- 
pecially to  the  fact  that  there  were  several  landed  proprie- 
tors and  wealthy  families  who  naturally  felt  averse  to  a 
change  in  government,  being  sensible  of  greater  security  for 
their  property  under  the  existing  state  of  things.  These 
were  loyal — not  all,  but  a  greater  portion  of  them.  The 
exposed  situation  of  the  province  below  the  Highlands  to 
attacks  from  the  naval  forces  of  Great  Britain  was  another 
inducement  to  be  cautious  not  to  offend  the  government, 
if  not  to  be  actually  friendly  to  the  crown.  Again,  Sir 
William  Johnson  and  his  family,  who  had  unbounded  influ- 
ence over  the  Indians  in  the  Mohawk  region  and  the  inter- 
ests of  many  settlers,  were  naturally  loyalists,  and  for  a 
long  time  after  hostilities  had  commenced,  Toryism  strongly 
prevailed  among  the  inhabitants  west  of  Albany.  It  was 
less,  probably,  than  it  would  have  been  had  Sir  William 
lived  to  bear  rule  there  when  the  dispute  resulted  in  blows. 
He  died  suddenly  at  Johnson  Hall,  in  July,  1774,  and  the 
mantle  of  office,  as  Indian  agent,  fell  upon  his  son-in-law 
and  nephew,  Guy  Johnson,  whose  loyalty  was  equal  to 
that  of  Sir  William. 

Such  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  New  York,  in  her 

*  Journals  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  May  25,  1774. 


320  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

representative  assembly,  moved  so  tardily  to  trie  music  of 
rebellion  when  the  war  broke  out.  She  has  been  taunted 
for  that  tardiness,  but  unjustly.  The  masses  of  her  people 
were  republican  in  sentiment  from  the  beginning;  and  when, 
finally,  Toryism  was  fairly  crushed  out  of  her  provincial 
congress  by  the  popular  pressure,  no  state  was  more  practi- 
cally patriotic.  With  a  population  of  only  a  little  more 
than  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand,  of  whom  thirty-two 
thousand  five  hundred  were  liable  to  do  militia  duty,  New 
York  furnished  almost  eighteen  thousand  sturdy  soldiers  for 
the  Continental  Army — over  three  thousand  more  than  its 
quota  called  for  by  the  Continental  Congress. 

The  members  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York 
subscribed  to  and  recommended  the  American  Association, 
organized  by  the  first  congress,  and  adopted  measures  to 
enforce  its  provisions.  They  also  took  into  consideration 
the  means  for  defense,  and  were  earliest,  on  the  motion  of 
Gouverneur  Morris,  in  recommending  an  emission  of  paper 
money  by  the  General  Congress  for  the  whole  continent, 
thus  recognizing  the  confederation  as  complete  and  the 
congress  as  the  supreme  legislature.  They  also  addressed 
a  circular  letter  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada,  (translated 
into  French  by  Paul  Du  Simitiere,)  calling  upon  them  to 
join  those  of  their  sister  colonies  in  defense  of  their  liber- 
ties and  the  rights  of  man. 

The  Continental  Congress  also  issued  an  address  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Canada,  for  the  same  purpose,  at  the  close 
of  May.  They  had  already,  by  a  series  of  resolves,  based 
upon  a  report  of  the  committee  of  which  Washington  was 
chairman,  recommended  the  colony  of  New  York  to  pro- 
ceed immediately  to  erect  fortifications  at  the  upper  end  of 
York  Island  and  in  the  Hudson  Highlands  ;  to  arm  and 
train  the  militia  of  the  province,  that  they  might  be  ready 


1775.]        DESIRES     FOll     RECONCILIATION.  321 

to  act  at  a  moment's  warning  ;  recommended  that  troops  be 
enlisted  to  serve  during  the  remainder  of  the  year  ;  and  in 
every  way  to  persevere  the  more  vigorously  in  preparing  for 
their  defense,  as  it  was  very  uncertain  whether  the  earnest 
endeavors  of  the  congress  to  accommodate  the  unhappy 
differences  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies,  by  con- 
ciliatory measures,  would  be  successful.* 

The  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  acted  promptly 
on  these  recommendations  ;  at  the  same  time  they  evinced 
a  most  earnest  desire  for  reconciliation.  They  appointed 
committees  to  view  the  various  points  near  New  York  and 
on  the  Hudson  thought  to  be  eligible  for  fortifications,  and 
they  directed  another  committee  to  draft  a  plan  for  honor- 
able reconciliation  with  Great  Britain,  in  a  spirit  of  mutual 
concession.  They  agreed  that  Colonel  Philip  Schuyler  was 
the  most  suitable  person  in  the  colony  to  be  recommended 
to  the  Continental  Congress  as  a  major  general,  and  Kichard 
Montgomery,  Esq.,  as  brigadier  general  ;  and  they  wrote 
to  their  representatives  in  that  Congress,  saying  :  "  We 
pray  you  to  use  every  effort  for  the  compromising  of  this 
unnatural  quarrel  between  the  parent  and  child,  and,  if 
such  terms  as  you  may  think  best  shall  not  be  complied 
with,  earnestly  to  labor,  that  at  least  some  terms  may  be 
held  up,  whereby  a  treaty  shall  be  set  on  foot  to  restore 
peace  and  harmony  to  our  country,  and  spare  the  further 
effusion  of  human  blood." 

"For  many  reasons,"  wrote  Councillor  Smith  to  Colonel  Schuyler, 
"  I  think  the  present  the  moment  in  which  the  greatest  blessings  may 
be  secured  to  our  country.  The  last  hope  of  the  ministry  is  to  divide  us. 
This  is  become  impossible.  We  are  then  at  the  eve  of  a  change  of  men, 
or  a  change  of  measures  by  the  same  men.  The  first  is  ruin  to  the 
ministers.  They  have'  no  way  of  preventing  it  but  by  a  change  of 
measures.     Could  you  wish  for  a  better  opportunity  to  negotiate  ?     You 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  May  25,  1775. 
14* 


\ 


V— ' 


322  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

have  the  ball  at  your  feet.  For  heaven's  sake  don't  slip  so  fair  a  pros- 
pect of  gaining  what  you  run  the  greatest  risk  of  losing  upon  a  change  ot 
men.  I  heard  of  Dr.  Franklin's  arrival  with  extreme  anguish.  He  has 
connected  himself  with  Lord  Chatham.  I  dread  this  event  and  his  in- 
fluence upon  your  councils,  if  he  aims  oaly,  as  the  great  orator,  I  fear, 
does,  at  the  destruction  of  the  favorites  and  the  support  of  our  cause 
only  as  the  instrument  to  effect  it.  If  that  lord  was  first  minister,  have 
you  reason  to  believe  that  he  means  more  than  to  exempt  you  from  in- 
ternal taxation?" 

After  suggesting  what  he  deemed  a  feasible  plan  for 
reconciliation,  embracing  the  idea  of  an  American  Parlia- 
ment restricted  in  its  operations  to  making  revenue  provi- 
sions, the  writer  continued : 

"  If  something  of  this  kind  is  not  the  result  of  your  present  councils, 
we  shall  purchase  our  redemption  with  blood  and  misery,  for  every 
nerve  of  administration  will  be  strained  to  stand  another  year  at  least. 
And  though  I  think  we  shall  be  free  at  last,  yet  why  not  now  ?  Why 
not  immediately  ?  Why  raise  a  military  spirit  that  may  furnish  unman- 
ageable adventurers  on  this  side  of  the  water  unfriendly  to  a  province 
in  which  you  and  I  have  something  to  lose.  *  *  *  For  God's  sake  be 
slow.  Guard  against  those  who  are  interested  in  pushing  matters  to 
extremities  for  their  personal  safety  or  private  interests.  There  may  be 
among  you  those  who  look  for  salvation  from  the  number  of  the  obnox- 
ious, as  well  as  for  elevation  from  a  change  of  ministry.  Your  country 
wants  nothing  but  a  change  of  measures.  I  trust  mynelf  to  your  pru- 
dence and  friendship  in  this  distressing,  critical  hour.  I  commend  you 
to  the  Fountain  of  Light."* 

*  Autograph  letter,  May  16,  IT 75. 


CHAPTER,    XIX. 

While  the  general  Congress,  notwithstanding  their 
desire  for  reconciliation,  was  prudently  moving  on  with 
vigor  in  preparations  for  war,  the  popular  assemblies  in  all 
the  provinces  and  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were  en- 
gaged in  like  preparations.  A  deceptive  token  of  peace  had 
been  held  out  by  the  British  ministry.  To  the  astonish- 
ment of  all  parties  in  Parliament,  Lord  North,  in  March, 
offered  what  he  called  a  Conciliatory  Bill  for  their  consid- 
eration. It  provided  that  when  the  proper  authorities  in 
any  colony  should  offer,  besides  maintaining  its  own  civil 
government,  to  raise  a  certain  revenue  and  place  it  at  the 
disposition  of  Parliament,  it  would  be  proper  to  forbear 
imposing  any  tax  on  that  colony  except  for  the  regulation 
of  commerce.  The  minister  found  himself  immediately 
exposed  to  a  cross-fire.  The  ministerial  party  opposed  his 
proposition  because  it  was  conciliatory,  and  the  opposition 
were  dissatisfied  with  it  because  it  proposed  to  abate  but  a 
single  grievance,  and  was  not  specific. 

When  a  copy  of  North's  bill  was  laid  before  the  Con- 
gress, on  the  26th  of  May,  the  significant  commentary 
upon  it  was  a  resolution  that  the  colonies  should  be  "  im- 
mediately put  in  a  state  of  defense."  The  proposition  to 
petition  the  King  was  vehemently  opposed  as  an  imbecile 
and  temporizing  measure,  calculated  to  embarrass  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Congress  and  to  give  the  ministry  time  to  send 


324  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

fleets  and  armies  while  the  Americans  were  vainly  waiting 
to  hear  words  of  royal  clemency. 

There  was  a  decided  war  spirit  in  the  general  Congress. 
Still  they  were  cautious.  Notwithstanding  the  way  for 
the  conquest  of  Canada  was  fairly  opened,  and  Ethan  Allen 
and  Benedict  Arnold  were  calling  for  aid  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful invasion  of  that  province,  the  Congress,  hoping  to 
gain  a  greater  victory  by  making  the  Canadians  their  allies, 
sent  a  loving  address  to  them,  and  resolved,  on  the  1st  of 
June,  "  that  no  expedition  or  incursion  ought  to  be  under- 
taken or  made  by  any  colony  or  body  of  colonists  against 
or  into  Canada." 

But  it  was  difficult  to  restrain  the  people.  The  war 
spirit  was  abroad.  The  patience  of  supplication  was  ex- 
hausted. Already  an  army  was  in  the  field.  When  intel- 
ligence of  the  bloodshed  at  Lexington  and  Concord  went 
from  lip  to  lip  throughout  New  England,  the  inhabitants 
rushed  toward  Boston  from  almost  every  town  within  fifty 
miles  of  that  city.  Within  two  days  at  least  twenty  thou- 
sand men,  armed  and  unarmed,  were  gathered  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. They  came  also  from  Connecticut,  Khode  Island, 
and  New  Hampshire.  The  veteran  Putnam  left  his  plow  in 
the  furrow  and  hastened  to  Cambridge.  His  companion-in- 
arms in  the  old  French  war,  Captain  Stark,  soon  joined  him 
there;  and  Gridley  and  others,  who  had  shared  with  him  the 
privations  and  honors  of  earlier  wars,  were  ready  for  action. 
Artemas  Ward  was  appointed  by  the  Massachusetts  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  commander-in-chief  of  the  motley  army  so 
suddenly  assembled,  and  Richard  Gridley  was  made  chief 
engineer.  With  a  determined  spirit  they  commenced  piling 
up  fortifications  to  imprison  the  British  army  upon  the 
Boston  peninsula.  Day  by  day  the  position  of  that  army 
became  more  and  more  perilous,  notwithstanding  a  large 


1775.]  BATTLE     OF     BUNKER* S     HILL.  325 

reinforcement  arrived  at  the  close  of  May,  under  three  ex- 
perienced generals — Howe  (brother  of  the  loved  commander 
whose  remains  Captain  Schuyler  bore  from  Lake  George  to 
Albany  for  burial),  Clinton,  and  Burgoyne.  Twelve  thou- 
sand armed  men  were  on  that  peninsula  at  the  beginning 
of  June  ;  and  in  the  harbor  and  surrounding  waters  were 
several  full-armed  ships  under  Admiral  Graves. 

Gage  felt  strong  as  he  looked  upon  his  well-appointed 
battalions,  and  he  determined  to  march  out  and  scatter  the 
earthworks  of  the  rebels  and  their  undisciplined  host  to  the 
winds.  On  the  10th  of  June  he  proclaimed  all  Americans 
in  arms  to  be  rebels  and  traitors,  and  offered  a  free  pardon 
to  all  who  should  return  to  their  allegiance,  except  those 
arch  offenders,  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams,  whom 
he  intended  to  send  to  England  to  be  hanged.  The  former 
was  then  the  president  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  the 
latter  was  the  most  active  and  determined  spirit  in  that  body. 

Apprised  of  the  intentions  of  Gage  to  send  out  an  in- 
vading force,  the  patriots  prepared  to  meet  him.  During 
the  brief  darkness  of  a  short  June  night  they  cast  up  in- 
trenchments  upon  Breed's  Hill,  overlooking  Charlestown 
and  menacing  Boston.  The  British  generals  could  hardly 
credit  the  testimony  of  their  senses  in  the  morning  when 
this  apparition  appeared.  Delay  would  now  be  dangerous, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  June  many  boats  filled 
with  British  soldiers  crossed  the  narrow  waters  between 
Boston  and  the  Charlestown  peninsula.  It  was  a  hot, 
sultry  day,  and  the  slopes  of  Breed's  Hill  seemed  to  glow 
with  flame  when  the  scarlet  uniforms  of  the  British  sol- 
diers were  displayed  upon  them,  and  heavy  platoons  were 
moving  slowly  up  to  attack  the  redoubt,  within  which  lay 
fifteen  hundred  provincials.  In  full  view  of  the  anxious, 
streaming  eyes  of  friends  who  covered  roofs  and  balconies 


326  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42 

in  Boston,  the  first  real  battle  of  the  Kevolution  was  then 
fought,  desperately  and  courageously  by  both  parties. 
Breed's  Hill  was  strewn  with  the  slain  invaders,  while  the 
Americans  yet  held  the  redoubt.  But  their  scanty  ammu- 
nition soon  failed,  and  they  were  compelled  to  retreat.  In 
the  battle  they  had  lost  but  few  men,  but  at  the  moment 
of  retreat  one  of  the  noblest  of  them  fell.  It  was  Dr. 
Joseph  Warren,  just  appointed  a  major-general,  but  fight- 
ing gallantly  as  a  volunteer  under  Colonel  Prescott,  the 
commander  of  the  redoubt.  Near  the  spot  where  he  fell, 
and  within  the  lines  of  the  little  fortress  so  nobly  defended, 
the  countrymen  of  Warren  have  raised  a  tall  granite  shaft 
commemorative  of  the  gallant  deeds  of  himself  and  his 
compatriots. 

Two  days  before  this  conflict  —  a  conflict  in  which 
neither  party  could  claim  a  victory — a  conflict  known  as 
the  Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,*  the  Continental  Congress, 
acting  upon  the  sentiment  in  their  petition  to  the  King — 
"  We  have  counted  the  cost  of  this  contest,  and  find  no- 
thing so  dreadful  as  voluntary  slavery" — had  not  only  voted 
to  raise  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  but  had  adopted 
the  incongruous  one  before  Boston  as  a  Continental  Army, 
and  appointed  George  Washington  commander-in-chief 
of  "  all  the  forces  raised  or  to  be  raised  for  the  defense  of 
the  colonies/'  Artemas  Ward,  then  in  command  of  the 
army,  with  his  headquarters  at  Cambridge  ;  Charles  Lee, 
a  restless  adventurer  and  experienced  soldier;  Philip  Schuy^ 
ler,  who  had,  a  few  days  before,  been  placed  on  a  commit- 
tee with  Washington  to  prepare  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  government  of  the  army  ;  and  Israel  Putnam,  a  vet- 

*  General  Ward  ordered  Colonel  Prescott  to  fortify  Bunker's  Hill,  lying  a 
short  distance  back  of  Breed's  Hill.  The  expedition  for  the  purpose  proceeded 
in  the  darkness,  and  by  mistake  fortified  Breed's  Hill,  nearer  Boston. 


1775.]  CONTINENTAL     MONEY.  327 

eran  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  were  appointed  major- 
generals,  and  composed  the  principals  of  Washington's 
staff.  Seth  Pomeroy,  David  Wooster,  and  Joseph  Spen- 
cer, of  Connecticut ;  Kichard  Montgomery,  of  New  York  ; 
William  Heath  and  John  Thomas,  of  Massachusetts  ; 
John  Sullivan,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  and  Nathaniel  Greene, 
of  Rhode  Island,  were  appointed  brigadier-generals.  Ho- 
ratio Gates,  formerly  an  officer  in  the  British  army,  but 
then  a  resident  of  Virginia,  was  appointed  adjutant  gen- 
eral. 

Having  made  provision  for  an  army  and  its  regulations, 
the  next  care  of  the  Congress  was  to  provide  the  "  sinews 
of  war" — money.  The  requisite  amount  could  not  be  ob- 
tained in  specie,  so  they  acted  upon  the  suggestion  of  the 
New  York  Provincial  Congress,  and  on  the  22d  of  June 
agreed  to  issue  a  sum  mot  exceeding  two  millions  of  dollars 
in  bills  of  credit.  A  month  later  another  million  was  au- 
thorized ;  and  emissions  were  made  from  time  to  time,  as 
necessity  demanded,  until  no  less  than  two  hundred  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  known  as  continental  money,  were  issued. 
Much  of  this  was  never  redeemed,  and  the  bills  were  utterly 
worthless  after  the  year  1781.  They  are  now  curious  relics 
in  the  cabinets  of  collectors. 

Washington  left  Philadelphia  for  Cambridge  on  the 
morning  of  the  21st  of  June,  accompanied  by  Generals 
Lee  and  Schuyler,  and  chosen  members  of  his  military 
family.  A  brilliant  civic  and  military  cavalcade,  com- 
posed of  at  least  two  thousand  citizens,  accompanied  them 
several  miles,  and  a  corps  of  light-horse  escorted  them 
all  the  way  to  New  York.  When  they  approached  Tren- 
ton they  were  met  by  a  courier  riding  in  hot  haste  for 
Philadelphia,  to  lay  before  Congress  dispatches  concerning 
the  battle  on  Breed's  Hill,  and  he  relieved  the  mind  of  the 


328  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

commander-in-chief  of  a  great  burden  of  uncertainty  when 
he  informed  him  that  the  militia  (on  whom  was  to  be  his 
chief  reliance,)  behaved  nobly  in  the  conflict.  "  Then  the 
liberties  of  the  country  are  safe  !"  Washington  exclaimed. 
At  New  Brunswick  General  Schuyler  addressed  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  president  of  the  New  York  Provincial 
Congress  : 

"  S;r  :  General  Washington,  with  his  retinue,  is  now  here,  and  pro- 
poses to  be  at  Newark  by  nine  to-morrow  morning.  The  situation  of 
the  men-of-war  at  New  York  (we  are  informed)  is  such  as  to  make  it 
necessary  that  some  precaution  should  be  taken  in  crossing  Hudson's 
river,  and  he  would  take  it  as  a  favor  if  some  gentlemen  of  your  body 
would  meet  him  to-morrow  at  Newark,  as  the  advice  you  may  then 
give  him  will  determine  whether  he  will  continue  his  proposed  route  or 
not." 

The  Provincial  Congress  responded  by  appointing  four 
of  their  number  (one  of  whom  was  General  Montgomery) 
to  meet  the  commander-in-chief  and  suite  at  Newark.  Pe- 
culiar circumstances  produced  perplexity.  The  Congress 
and  the  municipal  authorities  of  New  York  city  were 
placed  in  an  awkward  dilemma.  Simultaneous  with  the 
approach  of  Washington,  the  republican  general,  came 
Try  on,  the  royal  governor,  on  his  return  from  England. 
He  had  just  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook.  What  must  be  done  ? 
To  avoid  offense  honors  must  be  given  to  both,  and  yet,  as 
public  officers,  the  functions  of  the  two  men  were  severely 
antagonistic,  and  their  respective  political  friends  were 
fiercely  hostile.  Only  two  days  before,  a  small  party  of 
the  Sons  of  Liberty,  led  by  Marinus  Willet,  had  confronted 
an  Irish  battalion,  under  Major  Moncrief,  as  it  evacuated 
Fort  George  and  was  marching,  with  some  boxes  of  arms 
in  wagons,  to  embark  for  Boston.  The  republicans  seized 
the  arms,  conveyed  them  back  to  the  fort,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  that  deserted  post.     On  the  same  day  the  Congress 


1775.]  A     DILEMMA.  329 

had  received  official  intelligence  of  the  battle  on  Breed's 
Hill,  and  now  the  respective  representatives  of  the  King 
and  of  his  rebellious  subjects  were  approaching,  with  claims 
to  the  public  courtesy.  For  a  little  while  these  legislators 
were  at  their  wits'  end,  when  it  was  agreed  to  honor  each 
party  and  offend  nobody  by  neglect.  Colonel  Lasher,  com- 
mander of  the  militia,  was  accordingly  ordered  to  parade 
his  regiment,  and  be  "ready  to  receive  either  the  generals 
or  Governor  Tryon,  whichever  should  first  arrive,  and  wait 
on  both  as  well  as  circumstances  would  allow." 

Fortunately  for  all  parties,  the  arrival  of  these  public 
characters  was  not  simultaneous.  Washington  and  his 
party  landed  on  the  New  York  side  of  the  Hudson,  at 
Colonel  Lispenard's  seat,  about  a  mile  above  the  town,  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  were  "  conducted  into 
the  city  by  nine  companies  of  foot,  in  their  uniforms,  and 
a  greater  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  city  than  ever 
appeared  on  any  occasion  before."*  They  were  there  re- 
ceived by  the  civil  authorities  ;  and  Mr.  Livingston,  the 
president  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  pronounced  a  cau- 
tious and  conservative  address,  to  which  Washington  re- 
plied. Four  hours  afterward  Governor  Tryon  arrived,  and 
was  conducted  to  the  house  of  Hugh  Wallace,  Esq.  The 
civic  and  military  ceremonies  of  the  afternoon  were  par- 
tially repeated  in  the  evening,  and  all  parties  were  well* 
satisfied  with  the  events  of  that  Sabbath  day,  the  25th  of 
June,  1775. 

Washington  and  Schuyler  spent  the  entire  evening  after 
their  arrival,  in  earnest  consultation  concerning  the  present 
and  prospective  affairs  of  the  Northern  Department,  to 
whose  guardianship  the  latter  was   assigned.      That   de- 

*  Pennsylvania  Journal,  quoted  by  Frank  Moore,  Diary  of  the  Revolvr 
tion,  i.  101. 


330  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

partraent  included  the  whole  of  New  York,  a  province 
then  peculiarly  situated  hoth  geographically  and  politically. 
It  was  an  important  link  in  the  confederacy,  uniting  the 
New  England  provinces  with  those  of  the  middle  and 
southern  ;  and  upon  its  preservation  from  royal  control 
depended  the  integrity  of  the  union.  On  its  northern  bor- 
der was  Canada,  with  its  inhabitants  practically  neutral  in 
regard  to  the  great  question  at  issue,  and  likely  to  become 
hostile,  because  British  power  and  influence  were  vastly 
predominant  there.  From  that  province  might  come  speedy 
invasions.  The  central  and  western  regions  of  New  York 
were  filled  with  the  powerful  tribes  of  the  Six  Confeder- 
ated Nations  of  Indians,  whose  almost  universal  loyalty 
had  already  been  secured  by  the  agency  of  the  Johnson 
family  ;  while  nearer  the  seaboard  and  in  the  metropolis, 
family  compacts  and  commercial  interests  were  powerfully 
swayed  by  traditional  and  natural  attachments  to  the 
crown,  and  neutralized  to  a  great  extent  the  influence  of 
the  few  sturdy  patriots  who,  in  the  face  of  frowns  and 
menaces,  and  fears  of  the  timid,  kept  the  fires  of  the 
Kevolution  burning  with  continually  increasing  bright- 
ness. 

New  York,  in  that  crisis,  thus  presented  three  danger- 
ous elements  of  weakness,  namely,  an  exposed  frontier,  a 
wily  and  powerful  internal  foe,  and  a  demoralizing  loy- 
alty. These  visible  signs  of  weakness  in  this  important 
link  of  the  confederacy  gave  much  uneasiness  to  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  yet  he  felt  a  secret  confidence  that  all 
would  be  well  while  a  man  like  General  Schuyler  should 
be  charged  with  the  preservation  of  the  strength  and  vital- 
ity of  that  link.  To  that  officer,  on  the  same  Sabbath 
evening,  the  commander-in-chief  gave  the  following  in- 
structions : 


1775.]         INSTRUCTIONS     TO     SCHUYLER.  331 

"  You  are  to  take  upon  you  the  command  of  all  the  troops  destined 
for  the  New  York  Department,  and  see  that  the  orders  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  are  carried  into  execution  with  as  much  precision  and 
exactness  as  possible. 

"  For  your  better  government  therein  you  are  hereby  furnished  with 
a  copy  of  the  instructions  given  to  me  by  that  honorable  body.  Such 
parts  as  are  within  the  line  of  your  duty  you  will  please  to  pay  particu- 
lar attention  to.  Delay  no  time  in  occupying  the  several  posts  recom- 
mended by  the  Provincial  Congress  of  this  colony,  and  putting  them  in 
a  fit  posture  to  answer  the  end  designed  ;  nor  delay  any  time  in  securing 
the  stores  which  are,  or  ought  to  have  been,  removed  from  this  city  by 
order  of  the  Continental  Congress. 

"  Keep  a  watchful  eye  upon  Governor  Tryon,  and  if  you  find  him 
directly  or  indirectly  attempting  any  measures  inimical  to  the  common 
cause,  use  every  means  in  your  power  to  frustrate  his  designs.  It  is 
not  in  my  power  at  this  time  to  point  out  the  mode  by  which  this  end 
is  to  be  accomplished,  but  if  forcible  measures  are  judged  necessary  re- 
specting the  person  of  the  governor,  I  should  have  no  difficulty  in  order- 
ing them  if  the  Continental  Congress  were  not  sitting ;  but  as  this  is 
the  case,  and  the  seizing  of  a  governor  quite  a  new  thing,  and  of  great 
importance,  I  must  refer  you  to  that  body  for  direction  should  his  Ex- 
cellency make  any  motion  towards  increasing  the  strength  of  the  Tory 
party  or  arming  them  against  the  cause  in  which  we  are  embarked.  In 
like  manner  watch  the  movements  of  the  Indian  agent,  Colonel  Guy 
Johnson,  and  prevent,  as  far  as  you  can,  the  effect  of  his  influence  to 
our  prejudice  with  the  Indians.  Obtain  the  best  information  you  can 
of  the  temper  and  disposition  of  those  people,  and  also  of  the  Cana- 
dians, that  a  proper  line  may  be  marked  out  to  conciliate  their  good 
opinion  or  facilitate  any  future  operation. 

"  The  posts  on  Lake  Champlain  you  will  please  to  have  properly 
supplied  with  provisions  and  ammunition ;  and  this  I  am  persuaded  you 
will  aim  at  doing  on  the  best  terms,  to  prevent  our  good  cause  from 
sinking  under  a  heavy  load  of  expense.  You  will  be  pleased,  also,  to 
make  regular  returns  to  me,  and  to  the  Continental  Congress,  once  a 
month,  and  oftener,  as  occurrences  may  require,  of  the  forces  under 
your  command,  and  of  your  provisions  and  stores,  and  give  me  the  ear- 
liest advices  of  every  piece  of  intelligence  which  you  shall  judge  of  im- 
portance to  be  speedily  known.  Your  own  good  sense  must  govern  you 
in  all  matters  not  particularly  pointed  out,  as  I  do  not  wish  to  circum- 
scribe you  within  narrow  limits." 

On  Monday  morning  Washington  left  New  York  for 
Cambridge.     General  Schuyler  accompanied  him  as  far  as 


332  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

New  Kochelle,  in  Westchester  county,  where  they  met  and 
conferred  with  General  Wooster,  who  was  in  command  of 
the  troops  raised  by  Connecticut,  and  which  had  been  sta- 
tioned on  the  shores  of  Long  Island  Sound  to  protect  the 
southern  frontier  of  that  colony.  A  rumor  having  been 
spread,  about  ten  days  before  Washington's  arrival,  that  a 
regiment  of  British  troops  was  soon  to  be  landed  in  New 
York,  the  Provincial  Congress  sitting  there  invited  General 
Wooster  to  march  within  five  miles  of  the  city  for  its  de- 
fense, and  while  there  to  be  under  their  command  or  of  that 
of  the  Continental  Congress.  By  permission  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Connecticut,  Wooster  complied  with  their  request, 
and  was  on  his  way  when  met  by  Washington  and  his  offi- 
cers. He  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  on  the 
28th  of  June,  with  seven  companies  of  his  own  regiment 
and  that  of  Colonel  Waterbury  complete — in  all  about 
eighteen  hundred  men.  They  encamped  in  the  vicinity  of 
Murray  Hill,  then  two  miles  from  the  city,  where  they  re- 
mained for  several  weeks. 

General  Schuyler  left  Washington  at  New  Kochelle,  and 
returned  to  New  York  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  im- 
portant command.  He  immediately  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  Continental  Congress,  informing  them  of  the  scarcity 
of  powder  in  New  York  ;  of  efforts  which  he  should  make 
to  cultivate  a  good  understanding  with  the  people  of  Can- 
ada ;  and  of  reports  of  hostile  demonstrations  on  the  part 
of  the  Six  Nations.  He  also  urged  them  to  appoint  a 
commissary-general  and  a  quartermaster-general  for  his 
department ;  assured  them  that  Governor  Tryon  had  made 
professions  of  sorrow  because  of  the  unhappy  controversy, 
and  that  he  would  not  create  any  trouble  in  his  govern- 
ment— professions  which  he  believed  to  be  sincere ;  and  con- 
cluded by  saying,  "  Be  assured,  honorable  sirs,  that  I  shall 


1775.]  THE     CANADIANS     COURTED.  333 

omit  nothing  in  my  power  faithfully  to  discharge  the  im- 
portant trust  with  which  you  have  honored  me.  If,  how- 
ever, I  should  be  unfortunate,  I  hope  your  candor  will 
impute  it  to  that  want  of  abilities  which  I  with  much 
truth  and  sincerity  avowed  previous  to  my  appointment, 
unless  you  should  be  convinced  that  any  neglect  of  duty 
proceeded  from  wickedness  of  heart."* 

Affairs  on  Lake  Champlain  demanded  General  Schuy- 
ler's first  and  most  earnest  attention,  for  the  possession  of 
Canada,  either  by  an  alliance  in  the  cause  or  by  conquest, 
was  a  consideration  of  the  greatest  importance.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  contest  that  province,  inhabited  by  French 
Roman  Catholics,  having  no  religious,  social,  or  national 
sympathy  with  the  Anglo-American  colonies  or  the  mother 
country,  had  been  an  object  of  great  solicitude  to  both 
parties.  The  imperial  government  had. made  concessions 
by  which  they  stimulated  the  loyalty  of  the  clergy,  and 
through  them  the  laity  ;  also  made  promises  for  the  future, 
which  caused  the  Canadians  to  be  half  forgetful  of  past 
animosities.  The  republican  leaders  of  the  colonies  in  arms 
had,  meanwhile,  made  affectionate  appeals  to  their  brethren 
beyond  the  St.  Lawrence  to  join  in  seeking  a  redress  of 
grievances  by  the  arguments  of  reason  or  the  sword.  In  an 
address  to  the  Canadians,  put  forth  by  the  Continental  Con- 
gress in  1774,  the  representatives  of  their  sister  colonists 
said  : 

"  We  are  too  well  acquainted  with  the  liberality  of  sentiment  distin- 
guishing your  nation,  to  imagine  that  difference  of  religion  will  prejudice 
you  against  a  hearty  amity  with  us.  You  know  that  the  transcondant 
nature  of  freedom  elevates  those  who  unite  in  her  cause  above  all  such 
low-minded  infirmities.  The  Swiss  Cantons  furnish  a  memorable  proof 
of  this  truth.  Their  union  is  composed  of  Roman  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant states,  living  in  the  utmost  concord  and  peace  with  one  another, 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  June  28,  1775. 


334  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

and  thereby  enabled,  ever  since  they  bravely  vindicated  their  freedom, 
to  defy  and  defeat  every  tyrant  that  invaded  them." 

This  address  was  translated  into  French  and  received 
the  favorable  notice  of  many  leading  Canadians.  But,  un- 
fortunately, the  Congress  had  practiced  some  duplicity 
which  the  ethics  of  diplomacy  might  excuse,  but  it  com- 
pletely neutralized  the  effects  of  this  appeal.  Only  five 
days  before  the  appeal  was  adopted,  the  Congress  had  said, 
in  their  address  to  the  people  of  England,  who  delighted  in 
shouting  "  No  Popery  \"  and  in  burning  the  effigies  of  the 
Roman  Pontiff  and  the  devil  together,  as  co-workers  in 
iniquity  : 

"  We  think  the  Legislature  is  not  authorized  by  the  constitution  to 
establish  a  religion  [alluding  to  the  Quebec  Act]  fraught  with  sanguinary 
tenets,  in  any  part  of  the  globe ;  nor  can  we  suppress  our  astonishment 
that  a  British  Parliament  should  ever  consent  to  establish  in  that  coun- 
try [Canada]  a  religion  that  has  deluged  your  island  in  blood,  and  dis- 
persed impiety,  bigotry,  persecution,  murder,  and  rebellion,  through 
every  part  of  the  world." 

This  also  was  translated  into  French,  and  was  read  to 
a  numerous  audience  of  intelligent  Canadians  at  Montreal. 
When  the  reader  came  to  that  part  which  treated  of  the 
"new  modelling  of  the  provinces,"  said  a  letter  writer, 
"  and  drew  a  picture  of  the  Catholic  religion  and  Canadian 
manners,  they  could  not  contain  their  resentment,  nor  ex- 
press it  but  in  broken  curses.  '  Oh,  the  perfidious,  double- 
faced  Congress  !'  they  exclaimed  ;  'Let  us  bless  and  obey 
our  benevolent  prince,  whose  humanity  is  consistent  and 
extends  to  all  religions  ;  let  us  abhor  all  who  would  seduce 
us  from  our  loyalty  by  acts  that  would  dishonor  a  Jesuit, 
and  whose  addresses,  like  their  resolves,  are  destructive  of 
their  own  objects/  " 

This  was  a  most  unfortunate  occurrence,  and  the  effect 


1775.]  ETHAN     ALLEN'S     APPEAL.  335 

of  this  duplicity  was  highly  detrimental  to  the  republican 
cause  for  a  while.  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  the  governor  of  Can- 
ada, took  advantage  of  the  feeling  which  it  produced,  and 
used  every  means  in  his  power  to  conciliate  the  Canadians  ; 
but  their  resentment  soon  cooled,  and  the  smouldering  fires 
of  national  hatred  of  England,  that  had  been  burning  for 
a  thousand  years,  glowed  too  intensely  to  be  quenched. 
When  the  address  of  the  second  Congress  was  sent  to  them 
at  the  close  of  May,  1775,  in  their  own  language  and  in 
printed  form,  many  a  Gallic  bosom  heaved  with  aspirations 
for  freedom  from  English  rule.  Such  was  the  prevailing 
feeling  of  the  Canadians  at  the  period  immediately  succeed- 
ing the  capture  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point ;  and  had 
Congress  then  acted  upon  the  earnest  advice  of  Colonels 
Ethan  Allen  and  Benedict  Arnold,  who  were  boldly  assert- 
ing the  supremacy  of  the  republicans  on  Lake  Champlain, 
the  conquest  of  Canada  might  have  been  easily  and  com- 
pletely accomplished.  The  former,  with  keen  perception 
that  proved  to  be  almost  prophetic  in  its  suggestions,  wrote 
a  characteristic  letter  to  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New 
York  on  the  2d  of  June.  After  speaking  of  the  forts  on 
Lake  Champlain  as  the  key  "  either  of  Canada  or  our  own 
country,"  he  said : 

"  The  key  is  ours  as  yet,  and  provided  the  colonies  would  suddenly 
push  an  army  of  two  or  three  thousand  men  into  Canada,  they  might 
make  a  conquest  of  all  that  would  oppose  them  in  the  extensive  province 
of  Quebec,  unless  reinforcements  from  England  should  prevent  it.  Such 
a  diversion  would  weaken  General  Gage  or  insure  us  Canada.  I  would 
lay  my  life  on  it,  that  with  fifteen  hundred  men  I  would  take  Montreal. 
Provided  I  could  be  thus  furnished,  and  an  army  could  take  the  field,  it 
would  be  no  insuperable  difficulty  to  take  Quebec. 

"  This  object  should  be  pursued,  though  it  should  take  ten  thousand 
men,  for  England  can  not  spare  but  a  certain  number  of  her  troops; 
nay,  she  has  but  a  small  number  that  is  disciplined,  and  it  is  long  as  it 
is  broad :  the  more  that  are  sent  to  Quebec  the  less  can  she  send  to  Bos- 


336  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

ton,  or  any  other  part  of  the  continent  And  there  will  be  this  un  - 
speakable  advantage,  in  directing  the  war  into  Canada,  that  instead  of 
turning  the  Canadians  and  Indians  against  us,  as  is  wrongly  suggested  by 
many,  it  would  unavoidably  attach  and  connect  them  to  our  interest. 
Our  friends  in  Canada  can  never  help  us  until  we  first  help  them,  except 
in  a  passive  or  inactive  manner.  There  are  now  about  seven  hundred 
regular  troops  in  Canada. 

"  It  may  be  thought  that  to  push  an  army  into  Canada  would  be  too 
premature  and  imprudent.  If  so,  I  propose  to  make  a  stand  at  the  Isle 
aux  Noix,  which  the  French  fortified  by  intrenchments  the  last  war,  and 
greatly  fatigued  our  large  army  to  take  it.  It  is  about  fifteen  miles  on  this 
side  of  St.  John's,  and  is  an  island  in  the  river,  on  which  a  small  artillery 
placed  would  command  it.  An  establishment  on  a  frontier  so  far  north 
would  not  only  better  secure  our  own  frontier,  but  put  it  into  our  power 
better  to  work  our  policy  with  Canadians  and  Indians,  or,  if  need  be, 
to  make  incursions  into  the  territory  of  Canada,  the  same  as  they  could 
into  our  country  provided  they  had  the  sovereignty  of  Lake  Champlain, 
and  had  erected  headquarters  at  or  near  Skenesborough.  Our  only  hav- 
ing it  in  our  power  thus  to  make  incursions  into  Canada  might  probably 
be  the  very  reason  why  it  would  be  unnecessary  so  to  do,  even  if  the 
Canadians  should  prove  more  refractory  than  I  think  for. 

"  Lastly,  I  would  propose  to  you  to  raise  a  small  regiment  of  Ran- 
gers, which  I  could  easily  do,  and  that  mostly  in  the  counties  of  Albany 
and  Charlotte,  provided  you  should  think  it  expedient  to  grant  commis- 
sions, and  thus  regulate  and  put  them  under  pay.  Probably  you  may 
think  this  an  impertinent  proposal.  It  is  truly  the  first  I  have  ever 
asked  of  the  government,  and  if  granted,  I  shall  be  zealously  ambitious, 
to  conduct  for  the  best  good  of  my  country  and  the  honor  of  the  gov- 
ernment." 


pertinent  proposal,"  coming  from  a  man  who,  by  an  assem- 
bly similar  to  their  own,  had,  only  the  year  before,  been 
pronounced  an  outlaw,  and  placed  under  legal  sentence  of 
death  as  a  traitor  to  the  State.  It  was  the  first  public  pro- 
position to  invade  Canada,  and  was  made  at  a  moment 
when  timid  prudence  caused  both  the  Provincial  and  the 
Continental  Congress  not  only  to  hesitate,  but  to  pointedly 
condemn  any  movement  toward  a  forcible  possession  of  the 
territory  beyond  the  St.  Lawrence.     They  considered  the 


1775.]  EVENTS     ON     LAKE     CHAMPLAIN.  337 

letter  a  bold  and  injudicious  production  of  an  ambitious 
and  reckless  man,  intoxicated  with  momentary  success,  and 
who  ought  to  be  checked  rather  than  encouraged.  But  in 
less  than  ninety  days  afterward,  the  Continental  Congress 
authorized  an  invasion  of  Canada  ;  and  the  whole  people 
who  longed  for  freedom,  from  the  far  northeast  to  the  ex- 
treme south,  approved  the  measure.  The  battle  on  Breed's 
Hill  and  other  circumstances  had  changed  public  opinion  ; 
and  the  patriots  had  cause  to  regret  that  the  voice  of  Col- 
onel Allen  had  not  sooner  been  heeded. 

Allen  and  his  confederates,  who  captured  the  lake  fort- 
resses, had  counselled  much  together  on  the  importance  and 
feasibility  of  the  conquest  of  Canada,  and  had  made  suc- 
cessful movements  with  that  end  in  view.  Immediately 
after  the  capture  of  those  posts,  a  party  of  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys  had  surprised  Skenesborough,  at  the  head  of  the 
lake,  and  made  prisoners  of  Major  Skene,  a  son  of  the  pro- 
prietor,* and  more  than  sixty  other  persons,  -and  taken 
away  with  them  a  schooner  and  several  bateaus.  The  for- 
mer was  immediately  manned  by  Colonel  Arnold,  with 
some  new  recruits,  and  armed  with  a  few  guns  from  Ticon- 
deroga.  Thus  equipped  he  sailed  northward,  followed  by 
Colonel  Allen  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  bateaus, 
to  attack  St.  John's  on  the  Sorel,  the  outlet  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain. 

Arnold's  schooner  outsailed  Allen's  bateaus.  At  the 
foot  of  the  lake  he  left  her,  and  with  thirty-five  men  in 
two  bateaux,  he  pushed  down  the  Sorel  to  St.  John's.     At 

*  Philip  Skene,  father  of  the  Major,  arrived  from  England  early  in  June, 
with  a  commission  of  Governor  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  and  their 
dependencies,  and  was  seized  before  he  landed,  by  order  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  it  having  been  rumored  that  he  was  authorized  to  raise  a  regiment 
in  America.  He  was  afterward  released,  and  was  living  at  Skenesborough 
when  Burgoyne  invaded  the  upper  Hudson  valley,  in  the  summer  of  1777. 

15 


338  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  |\<Et.  42. 

six  o'clock  the  following  morning  he  surprised  the  garrison 
there,  which  consisted  of  a  sergeant  and  twelve  men  ;  cap- 
tured a  King's  sloop,  with  seven  men  ;  destroyed  five  ba- 
teaux ;  seized  four  others  ;  put  on  board  the  sloop  some 
valuable  stores  from  the  fort,  and  within  two  hours  after 
his  arrival,  sailed  with  a  favorable  breeze  for  Ticonderoga, 
with  his  prisoners  and  booty.  He  met  Allen  and  they  held 
a  council,  the  result  of  which  was  that  Arnold  and  his 
prizes  proceeded  to  Ticonderoga,  and  Allen  went  on  to  St. 
John's  to  garrison  the  fort  with  a  hundred  men,  and  act  as 
circumstances  should  require. 

Kumors  reached  Arnold,  before  he  left  St.  John's,  that 
a  large  reinforcement  for  the  garrison  there  was  hourly  ex- 
pected from  Montreal  and  Chamblee.  These  rumors  be- 
came certain  information  soon  after,  the  arrival  of  Allen, 
who,  learning  that  the  approaching  party  was  more  nu- 
merous than  his  own,  crossed  the  river,  and  there,  early  on 
the  following  morning,  was  attacked  by  about  two  hundred 
men.  He  fled  to  his  boats,  and  escaped  to  Ticonderoga 
without  losing  a  man.  Thus  ended  a  series  of  exploits, 
bold  iii  conception  and  gallant  in  execution.  Within  eight 
days  two  strong  fortresses  with  their  dependencies  were 
wrested  from  the  British  by  a  handful  of  half-disciplined 
provincials,  acting  without  special  authority  or  specific 
aim  ;  and  the  little  fleet  of  the  enemy  on  the  lake — his 
chief  dependence  there — was  captured  or  destroyed  in  a 
day. 

The  British  authorities  in  Canada  were  alarmed  at  these 
movements,  and  Governor  Carleton  sent  a  force  of  four  hun- 
dred men — regulars,  Canadians,  and  Indians — to  St.  John's, 
with  the  intention  of  recapturing  Crown  Point  and  Ticon- 
deroga. Arnold,  thirsting  for  opportunity  to  win  by  valor 
what  he  was  deprived  of  by  necessity,  namely,  the  chief  com- 


1775.]  ARNOLD'S     ASPIRATIONS.  339 

mand  on  the  lakes,  was  delighted  when  he  heard  of  these  pre- 
parations, and  without  waiting  for  orders  from  any  source, 
he  proceeded  in  fitting  out  the  vessels  in  his  possession  to 
confront  the  enemy.  Having  armed  antl  manned  them,  he 
appointed  his  subordinate  officers,  and,  as  self-constituted 
commodore  of  the  first  Continental  Navy,  he  took  post  at 
Crown  Point,  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  the  ves- 
sels, to  await  the  expected  foe.  He  also  assumed  the  com- 
mand of  the  garrison  at  Crown  Point,  and  became  a  sort 
of  amphibious  leader,  ready  to  fight  on  land  or  water.  He 
also  busied  himself  in  sending  off  the  ordnance  at  Crown 
Point  to  the  army  at  Cambridge,  and  in  despatching  emis- 
saries to  Montreal  and  the  Causjhnawaora  Indians  in  that 
vicinity,  to  ascertain  the  feelings  of  the  Canadians  and 
savages  toward  the  republicans  in  arms,  and  also  to  gain 
intelligence  of  the  actual  state  of  Carleton's  preparations. 

Arnold,  like  Allen,  was  anxious  to  invade  Canada.  He 
disliked  the  latter  and  his  Green  Mountain  Boys,  and 
avoided  all  cooperation  with  him  as  much  as  possible. 
Unmindful,  and  perhaps  ignorant  of  the  proposition  of 
Allen  to  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  concerning 
an  invasion  of  Canada,  Arnold  wrote  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress on  the  13th  of  June,  and  laid  before  them  a  plan  of 
operations  whereby  the  conquest  of  that  province  might  be 
secured.  He  asserted  that  persons  in  Montreal  had  agreed 
to  open  the  gates  of  that  city,  when  a  continental  army  of 
sufficient  force  to  maintain  it  should  appear  before  it ;  as- 
sured the  Congress  that  Carleton  could  not  muster  more 
than  five  hundred  and  fifty  effective  men  ;  and  offered  to 
lead  an  expedition  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  hold  himself 
responsible  for  the  consequences. 

As  no  troops  had  been  raised  in  New  York  at  the  time 
of  the  capture  of  the  lake  fortresses,  the  Congress  of  that 


340  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

province  accepted  the  generous  offer  of  Trumbull,  the  gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut,  to  send  a  sufficient  force,  with  sup- 
plies, to  hold  them  until  New  York  should  be  ready  to 
perform  that  service.  Connecticut  had,  from  the  begin- 
ning, acted  in  concert  with  Massachusetts  in  levying  sol- 
diers, making  military  preparations,  and  providing  means 
for  the  support  of  an  army  ;  and  at  this  time  the  colony 
was  alive  with  excitement  on  account  of  the  result  of  the 
expedition  to  Lake  Champlain. 

Governor  Trumbull,  on  the  30th  of  May,  placed  one 
thousand  men  in  charge  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Hinman, 
with  orders  to  march  for  Ticonderoga.  These  composed  the 
fourth  regiment  raised  by  Connecticut.  At  about  the  same 
time,  the  general  committee  at  Albany  resolved  to  raise 
eight  hundred  men  "for  the  defense  of  American  liber ty," 
and  three  companies  were  enlisted  in  the  course  of  a  few 
days,  and  marched  for  Lake  Champlain.  Aware  of  the 
approach  of  Hinman's  regiment,  and  earnestly  desiring  the 
general  command  of  a  considerable  force,  Arnold,  in  a  post- 
script to  his  letter  to  the  Continental  Congress,  evinced 
that  desire,  and  at  the  same  time  his  aversion  to  Allen  and 
the  men  under  his  immediate  command.''5  He  proposed,  in 
order  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  different  colonies,  that  Col- 
onel Hinman's  regiment  should  form  part  of  the  army ; 
that  the  remainder  should  be  composed  of  five  hundred 
New  York  troops,  and  five  hundred  of  his  own  regiment, 

*  Arnold  affected  great  contempt  for  Allen  and  his  men.  On  the  day 
after  the  surrender  of  Ticonderoga,  he  wrote  to  the  Massachusetts  Committee 
of  Safety,  saying :  "  Colonel  Allen  is  a  proper  man  to  lead  his  own  wild 
people,  but  entirely  unacquainted  with  military  service."  And  in  a  letter  to 
the  Committee  of  Safety  at  Albany,  giving  an  account  of  his  operations  at  St. 
John's,  he  speaks  of  meeting,  on  his  return,  "one  Colonel  Allen,  with  a  party 
of  near  one  hundred  men,  who  were  determined  to  proceed  to  St.  John's  and 
make  a  stand  there,''  etc.,  and  subscribed  himself  "  Commander  at  Ticon- 
deroga." 


l^5-]  A      FEUD      HEALED.  341 

including  the  seamen  and  marines  on  the  vessel  under  his 
command,  "  but  no  Green  Mountain  Boys." 

At  this  time  Colonel  Allen  and  his  lieutenant,  Seth 
Warner,  were  in  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 
pay  for  their  soldiers  from  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
to  solicit  authority  to  raise  a  new  regiment  for  the  public 
service  in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants.  The  appearance  of 
these  heroes  of  the  north  produced  a  sensation  in  that  city. 
They  were  introduced  upon  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  per- 
mitted to  make  their  communications  to  that  body  orally. 
Allen  talked  long  and  earnestly  in  his  quaint  style  and 
slow-spoken  sentences  respecting  affairs  on  the  northern 
frontiers,  and  the  dangers  to  which  the  confederacy  and  the 
cause  of  freedom  in  America  would  be  exposed  when  the 
British  regulars  in  Canada  should  be  reinforced  ;  and  he 
again  urged  the  great  necessity  of  an  immediate  invasion 
of  the  province,  while  the  aim  of  the  imperial  government 
was  comparatively  weak,  and  the  friendship  of  the  Cana- 
dians for  the  revolted  colonies  was  strong.  His  words  had 
a  powerful  effect,  and  on  the  very  day  when  Congress  re- 
ceived Arnold's  letter,  in  which  he  expressed  an  ill-natured 
desire  that  "  no  Green  Mountain  Boys"  should  be  employed 
in  an  invasion  of  Canada,  the  Continental  Congress 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  convention  of  New  York, 
that  they,  consulting  with  General  Schuyler,  employ  in  the  army  to  be 
raised  for  the  defense  of  America  those  called  Green  Mountain  Boys, 
under  such  officers  as  the  said  Green  Mountain  Boys  shall  choose."* 

The  wishes  of  Allen  and  Warner  in  regard  to  pay  were 
also  complied  with,  and  they  departed  for  New  York  with 
cheerfulness,  to  present  themselves  before  the  Provincial 
Congress  there.     Their  appearance  on  such  an  errand  pro- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  June  17,  1775. 


342  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42 

duced  embarrassment  in  that  body.  The)7  had  been  pro- 
scribed as  outlaws  but  a  few  months  before  ;  now  no  one 
doubted  their  patriotism.  What  should  be  done  ?  There 
were  members  of  that  Congress  who  had  taken  an  active 
part  against  these  very  men.  Could  they  give  their  old 
enemies  a  friendly  greeting  ?  The  prejudices  of  these 
members,  and  the  scruples  of  others  who  could  not  per- 
ceive any  propriety  in  holding  public  conference  with  men 
whom  the  laws  of  the  land  had  declared  to  be  rioters  and 
felons,  produced  a  strong  opposition  to  their  admission  to 
the  legislative  hall.  Debates  on  the  subject  ran  high,  until 
Captain  Sears,  the  staunch  leader  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 
moved  that  "  Ethan  Allen  be  admitted  to  the  floor  of  the 
House."  The  motion  was  carried  by  a  large  majority,  as 
was  a  similar  resolution  in  regard  to  Warner.  The  old 
feud  was  instantly  healed.  These  men  were  received  as 
heroes  and  patriots,  and  the  New  York  Provincial  Congress 
decreed  that  a  regiment  of  Green  Mountain  Boys,  five  hun- 
dred strong,  should  be  raised.  The  subject  was  referred  to 
General  Schuyler,  who  soon  afterward  proclaimed  the  reso- 
lution in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants.  With  grateful  hearts 
Allen  and  his  companion  journeyed  to  Bennington,  and 
the  latter  afterward  wrote  to  the  New  York  Congress, 


"  When  I  reflect  on  the  unhappy  controversy  which  has  many  years 
subsisted  between  the  government  of  New  York  and  the  settlers  on  the 
New  Hampshire  Grants,  and  also  contemplate  the  friendship  and  union 
which  has  lately  taken  place,  in  making  a  united  resistance  against  min- 
isterial vengeance  and  slavery,  I  can  not  but  indulge  fond  hopes  of  a 
reconciliation.  To  promote  this  salutary  end  I  shall  contribute  my  in- 
fluence, assuring  you  that  your  respectful  treatment,  not  only  to  Mr. 
Warner  and  myself,  but  to  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  in  general,  in 
forming  them  into  a  battalion,  is  by  them  duly  regarded ;  and  I  will  be 
responsible  that  they  will  reciprocate  this  favor  by  boldly  hazarding  their 
lives,  if  need  be,  in  the  common  cause  of  America." 


1775.]  CANADA     TO     BE     INVADED.  343 

Colonel  Hitiman  arrived  at  Ticonderoga,  with  four  hun- 
dred Connecticut  troops,  at  about  the  middle  of  June,  as- 
sumed the  general  command,  and  held  that  position  for  a 
month,  when  he  was  formally  superseded  by  General  Schuy- 
ler. There  were  in  the  field,  in  the  colony  of  New  York 
during  that  time,  less  than  three  thousand  men  fit  for  duty, 
and  yet,  with  this  small  force,  preparations  were  made  for 
the  invasion  of  Canada.'*  The  visit  of  Allen  and  Warner 
to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  concurrent  circumstances, 
had  produced  a  great  change  in  the  views  of  that  body,  and 
on  the  day  when  General  Schuyler  parted  with  Washington 
at  New  Kochelle,  and  returned  to  New  York  to  enter  upon 
his  duties  as  commander  of  the  Northern  department,  the 
General  Congress,  by  unanimous  resolution,  ordered  Gen- 
eral Schuyler,  if  he  should  "  find  it  practicable,  and  not 
disagreeable  to  the  Canadians,  immediately  to  take  posses- 
sion of  St.  John's  and  Montreal,  and  pursue  such  other 
measures  in  Canada  as  might  have  a  tendency  to  promote 
the  peace  and  security  of  these  provinces."f 

These  words  were  mild  and  cautious,  but  were  understood 
as  conveying  an  explicit  order  for  the  invasion  of  Canada. 
They  reached  General  Schuyler  on  the  30th  of  the  month, 
and  on  the  same  day  he  wrote  as  follows  to  the  Continental 
Congress : 

i 

*  According  to  General  Schuyler's  first  returns,  dated  July  1, 1775,  which ' 
he  considered  imperfect  because  of  a  want  of  entirely  reliable  material,  the 
troops  in  the  colony  of  New  York  mustered  as  follows :  Of  Brigadier  General 
Wooster's  regiment,  at  New  York,  582 ;  Colonel  David  Waterbury's  regiment, 
at  New  York,  982 ;  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Hinman's  regiment,  at  Ticonderoga, 
495,  at  Crown  Point,  302,  at  the  Landing,  foot  of  Lake  George,  102,  and  at 
Fort  George,  head  of  Lake  George,  104 ;  of  Massachusetts  Bay  forces,  at  Ti- 
conderoga, 40,  at  Grown  Point,  109,  and  at  Fort  George,  25 ;  of  the  New  York 
forces,  at  Fort  George,  205. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  June  27,  1775. 


344  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

"  In  obedience  to  the  resolutions  of  Congress,  I  shall,  without  delay, 
repair  to  Ticonderoga.  It  will,  however,  be  necessary,  previous  to  my 
departure  from  hence,  that  I  should  take  order  to  have  the  various  arti- 
cles necessary  to  carry  into  execution  the  views  of  the  Congress,  sent 
after  me  with  all  possible  expedition  *  These  will  probably  detain  me 
until  Monday.  The  success  of  the  intended  operation  will  evidently 
depend  so  much  on  dispatch  that  I  am  sorry  I  do  not  think  myself  at 
liberty  to  move  the  troops  now  here  to  Albany  without  the  immediate 
consent  of  Congress.  At  this  place  I  do  not  apprehend  they  can  be 
wanted  ;  at  Albany  they  would  greatly  facilitate  and  expedite  the  ser- 
vice, as  well  as  save  expense  by  their  assistance  in  the  transportation  or 
stores  and  provisions,  and  by  their  aid  in  building  boats,  carriages,  etc. 
And  as  they  must  ultimately  go  on  this  service,  the  forces  at  Ticonde- 
roga being  vastly  inadequate  to  the  enterprise,  I  wish  the  sense  of  the 
Congress  with  all  possible  dispatch,  and  therefore  I  send  this  by  express  .f 

*  On  the  3d  of  July  General  Schuyler  addressed  a  letter  to  the  New  York 
Provincial  Congress,  inclosing  a  list  of  necessary  supplies  for  the  army  on  the 
lakes.  This  first  estimate  for  an  army  of  between  three  and  four  thousand 
men  is  such  a  fair  specimen  of  materials  used  in  such  service,  that  we  give  a 
copy  of  it  for  the  gratification  of  the  curious  reader : 

"  50  swivel  guns ;  2  tuns  musket  balls  or  lead ;  what  powder  can  be 
spared ;  2  dozen  bullet  moulds ;  soldiers'  tents  for  3,500  men,  6  men  to  a  tent ; 
a  proportionable  number  of  bell  tents;  officers'  tents  ;  tents  for  two  general 
officers  and  their  suite  ;  15  casks  of  24-penny  nails  ;  10  casks  of  20-penny ; 

15  casks  of  10-penny ;  1,000  weight  of  spike  nails  ;  1  tun  of  oakum;  30  bar- 
rels of  pitch ;  300  felling  axes,  exclusive  of  those  for  the  camp  use  of  the 
soldiers;  200  bill-hooks;  200  spades;  200  shovels;  150  pick-axes;  20  crow- 
bars ;  20  mason's  trowels ;  20  do.  hammers ;  2  tuns  of  bar  iron ;  500  weight 
of  stoel;  100  set  of  men's  harness  (believe  there  is  some  in  Connecticut) ;  3 
sets  of  gunsmith's  tools,  exclusive  of  those  for  the  regimental  armorer;  3  sets 
of  blacksmith's  tools;  50  broad  axes;  20  whip  saws;  20  cross-cut  saws; 
4  sets  of  blocks  and  tackles,  strong ;  50  lbs  twine ;  4  fishing  nets,  with  ropes  j 
10  bolts  of  sail  cloth;  fifty  oil-cloths,  well  painted;  1,500  oars,  12,  14,  and 

16  feet  long ;  500  fathoms  of  tarred  rope,  for  painters  for  boats;  half  a  ton  of 
tarred  rope,  sorted ;  4  chests  of  carpenter's  tools ;  28  mill  saws,  for  Dutch 
mills;  7  do.  for  English  mills;  5  dozen  mill  saw  files;  an  assortment  of  arti- 
cles in  the  artillery  way ;  paper ;  shot  cannisters ;  fusees ;  1  dozen  lime  sieves  ; 
50  small  truck  carriages,  if  they  are  ready  made  here;  10  do.  for  field  pieces, 
if  do. ;  necessaries  for  a  hospital;  3  months  provisions  for  4.000  men.  Much 
of  the  meat  kind  to  be  fresh,  as  it  may  be  driven  to  the  army,  and  save  the 
expense  of  transportation ;  whatever  arms  can  be  spared ;  20  grass  scythes  ; 
flints." — MS.  Letter  Books. 

f  MS.  Letter  Books,  June  30,  1715. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

General  Schuyler  left  New  York  for  Ticonderoga 
on  Tuesday,  the  fourth  of  July,  and  was  soon  afterward  fol- 
lowed by  Kichard  Varick,  as  secretary,  John  Macpherson, 
as  aid-de-camp,  and  Reverend  John  Peter  Testard  as  French 
interpreter  for  the  General,  and  chaplain  to  the  New  York 
troops.  On  the  previous  day  he  had  reviewed  Colonel 
Lasher's  battalion  of  militia,  accompanied  by  Generals 
Wooster  and  Montgomery,  in  the  presence  of  quite  a  large 
concourse  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  ;  and  afterward  received 
at  his  quarters  the  personal  courtesies  of  most  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  city,  who  had  espoused  the  republican  cause. 

General  Schuyler  had  already  addressed  a  letter  to  Col- 
onel Hinman,  apprising  him  of  his  (Schuyler's)  appoint- 
ment to  the  chief  command  in  the  North,  and  giving  him 
some  instructions  concerning  affairs  on  the  Canadian  fron- 
tier ;  and  on  the  day  before  he  left  he  addressed  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  General  Wooster,  in  addition  to  particular 
instructions  which  he  had  given  him  five  days  before  :** 

*  la  these  instructions  he  directed  Wooster  to  keep  up  very  exact  discip- 
line, to  prevent  jealousies  between  the  troops  and  the  citizens ;  not  to  allow 
any  soldiers  to  go  into  town  without  a  pass,  and  to  discourage  going  alto- 
gether, because  of  the  prevalence  of  the  small-pox  there ;  to  call  the  rolls 
twice  a-day ;  for  all  to  pay  the  utmost  attention  to  dress  and  cleanliness  ;  to 
perfect  the  troops  in  military  exercises ;  and  drunkenness  oi*  disorderly  con- 
duct, and  despoiling  orchards,  to  be  discountenanced  and  punished. 


346  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

"  America  has  recourse  to  arms  merely  for  her  safety  and  defense, 
and  in  resisting  oppression  she  will  not  oppress.  She  wages  no  war  of 
ambition,  content  if  she  can  only  retain  the  fair  inheritance  of  English 
law  and  English  liberty.  Such  being  the  purity  of  her  intentions,  no 
stain  must  be  suffered  to  disgrace  our  arms.  We  are  soldiers  ambitious 
only  to  aid  in  restoring  the  violated  rights  of  citizens,  and  these  secured, 
we  are  to  return  instantly  to  the  business  and  employments  of  civilized 
life.  Let  it  be  a  truth  deeply  impressed  on  the  minds  of  every  one  of 
us  who  bear  arms,  and  let  us  evince  to  the  world  that  in  contending  for 
liberty  we  abhor  licentiousness ;  that  in  resisting  the  misrule  of  tyrants 
we  shall  support  government  honestly  administered.  All  unnecessary 
violence  to  the  persons  or  property  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  must  therefore 
most  strictly  be  forbidden  and  avoided. 

11  The  magistracy  of  the  country  are  not  only  to  be  respected,  but 
aided  in  all  cases  not  incompatible  with  the  great  object  of  opposing  that 
oppression  which  called  us  to  defense. 

"  Let  this  be  the  magnet  for  directing  the  conduct  of  the  army  under 
my  command.  And  if  doubts  arise  on  any  particular  occasion,  and  the 
emergency  will  permit,  advise  with  the  Congress  of  the  colony  in  which 
you  may  act,  and  if  time  allows,  apply  to  the  Continental  Congress  and 
the  general-in-chief.  Only  orders  as  general  as  these  can  be  given  re- 
specting events  not  in  immediate  view. 

"  Close  attention  to  the  end  of  the  service  will  direct  to  the  means 
of  attaining  it.  Let  us  act  as  becomes  the  virtuous  citizen,  who  seeks 
for  the  aid  of  righteous  Heaven  and  the  just  applause  of  an  impartial 
world.  Liberty,  Safety,  and  Peace,  are  our  objects — the  establishment 
of  the  Constitution,  and  not  the  lust  of  Dominion. 

"  These  are  sentiments  the  goodness  of  your  heart  and  your  attach- 
ment to  our  righteous  cause  will  inculcate.  They  are  principles  I  wish 
deeply  implanted  in  the  heart  of  every  soldier  I  have  the  honor  to 
command.  They  will  lead  us  to  glory — they  will  merit  for  us  the  esteem 
of  our  countrymen."* 

General  Schuyler  and  suite  reached  Albany  about  one 
o'clock  on  Sunday,  the  9th  of  July.  He  was  received  at 
the  landing  by  the  members  of  the  general  committee  of 
the  city  and  county,  the  City  Troop  of  horse,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Tenbroeck,  the  Association  Company, 
commanded  by  Captain  Bleecker,  and  by  the  principal  in- 
habitants of  the  city.  They  bestowed  upon  him  the  honors 
*  MS.  Letter  Books,  July  3,  1775. 


1775.]  PUBLIC     RECEPTION.  347 

due  to  his  rank,  and  escorted  him  to  the  City  Hall,  when 
the  committee,  through  Dr.  Samuel  Stringer,  the  tempo- 
rary chairman,  presented  to  him  the  following  address  : 

"  Permit  us,  sir,  to  express  our  fullest  approbation  upon  the  appoint- 
ment by  which  your  country  has  raised  you  to  the  chief  military  com- 
mand in  this  colony.  While  we  deplore,  as  the  greatest  misfortune,  the 
necessity  of  such  an  appointment,  we  have  the  utmost  confidence  that 
you  have  accepted  of  power  for  the  glorious  purpose  of  exercising  it  for 
the  reestablishment  of  the  liberties  of  America,  at  present  invaded  by 
a  deluded  and  despotic  ministry. 

"  Born  and  educated  amongst  us,  in  a  country  which  freedom  has 
raised  to  a  state  of  opulence  and  envy,  you,  whose  principles  are  known, 
whose  sentiments  have  been  invariably  opposed  to  power,  afford  us  the 
pleasing  prospect  of  the  unremitted  exertion  of  your  knowledge,  pru- 
dence, and  experience,  for  the  restoration  of  peace  upon  constitutional 
principles.  When  the  sword  is  rendered  useless,  except  against  our  na- 
tural enemies ;  when  we  shall  see  you  restored  to  the  peaceful  state  of 
a  private  citizen  ;  when  this  happy  period  shall  arrive,  then,  and  not  till 
then,  will  Americans  enjoy  the  glorious  blessings  of  freedom." 

To  this  address  the  General  replied  as  follows  : 

"  I  feel  myself  so  sensibly  affected  by  this  public  and  friendly  ad- 
dress, that  whilst  my  heart  overflows  with  sentiments  of  gratitude,  I 
want  words  properly  to  convey  my  thanks. 

"  The  honor  you  do  me  in  the  approbation  which  you  are  pleased  to 
express  of  my  appointment  to  a  military  command,  confirms  me  in  the 
pleasing  reflection  that  I  shall  experience  your  assistance  in  a  continu- 
ance of  those  generous  exertions  by  which  you  have  already  so  con- 
spicuously manifested  your  love  for  your  country,  and  your  zeal  for  its 
cause. 

"  I  most  sincerely  and  unfeignedly  deplore  with  you  the  unhappy 
occasion  which  has  forced  America  to  have  recourse  to  arms  for  her 
safety  and  defense.  Ambitious  only  to  aid  in  restoring  her  violated 
rights,  I  shall  most  cheerfully  return  my  sword  to  the  scabbard,  and, 
with  alacrity,  resume  the  employment  of  civil  life,  whenever  my  consti- 
tuents shall  direct,  or  whenever  a  happy  reconciliation  with  the  parent 
state  shall  take  place. 

"That  indulgent  Heaven  may  guide  us  through  this  tempestuous 
scene,  and  speedily  restore  peace,  harmony,  and  mutual  confidence  to 
every  part  of  the  British  empire,  is  the  warmest  wish  of  my  heart." 


348  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.         -  [^Et.  42. 

General  Schuyler  was  then  escorted  to  his  residence, 
half  a  mile  south  of  the  town,  (now  at  the  head  of  Schuy- 
ler street,)  by  the  whole  party  that  received  him,  and  the 
city  was  illuminated  in  the  evening.  Beloved  by  his  fellow- 
citizens  as  a  man,  and  fully  appreciated  as  a  representative, 
his  return  to  them  clothed  in  such  extraordinary  honor  and 
dignity  excited  their  most  ardent  enthusiasm.  This  took 
the  shape  of  violent  indignation  the  next  morning,  when 
the  following  publication  appeared  anonymously,  with  the 
evident  intention  of  casting  ridicule  upon  the  reception 
proceedings  the  previous  day  : 

"  The  mode  of  a  late  very  Extraordinary  and  very  Grand  Pro- 
cession : 

"  I.  The  Congressional  G-eneral. 
"II.  The  Deputy  Chairman,  and  who  is  only  chairman  pro  tempore. 
"III.  Mr.  Tenbroeck — through  a  mistake. 
"  IV.  The  Chairman. 

u  V.  The  Committee. 
"  YI.  The  troop  of  Horse,  most  beautiful  and  grand.     Some  horses 
long-tailed,  some  bob-tailed,  and  some  without  any  tails,  and  attended 
with  the  melodious  sound  of  an  incomparably  fine  trumpet. 
"  VII.  The  Association."* 

In  consequence  of  this  publication,  the  Committee  of 
Safety,  Protection,  and  Correspondence  held  an  early  meet- 
ing, and  instituted  a  diligent  inquiry  after  the  author  of 
the  paper,  which  they  pronounced  a  "  scandalous  reflection" 
on  the  reception  proceedings.  He  was  believed  to  be  some 
concealed  Tory,  and  for  three  days  the  public  mind  was 
greatly  disturbed.  Then,  by  his  own  confession,  it  was 
discovered  that  the  author  was  Peter  W.  Yates,  a  member 
of  the  republican  committee.  In  a  moment  of  indiscreet 
playfulness  he  had  cast  that  harmless  missile  among  his 
fellow-townsmen.  He  made  a  most  humble  apology  to  his 
associates  of  the  committee  for  his  indiscretion,  and  sol- 

*  Minutes  of  the  Albany  Committee. 


1775.]  GLOOMY     PROSPECTS.  349 

emnly  disclaimed  "  any  intention  to  injure  the  cause  of 
liberty  ;"  but  the  public  mind  would  not  be  so  readily  ap- 
peased. The  city  was  in  an  uproar,  and  at  several  public 
meetings  Mr.  Yates'  expulsion  from  the  committee  was 
demanded.  He  resigned,  but  this  did  not  satisfy  the  peo- 
ple. Nothing  less  than  his  public  apology  or  his  public 
disgrace  would  be  accepted,  and  he  accordingly  appeared 
before  his  assembled  fellow-citizens  and  made  the  required 
acknowledgment.*  This  event  exhibits  the  extreme  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  public  mind  at  that  period,  when  every  man 
was  suspicious  of  his  neighbor,  and  two  of  a  household 
often  disagreed,  and  sometimes  cherished  the  most  bitter 
feud. 

General  Schuyler  found  the  aspect  of  every  thing  con- 
nected with  the  republican  cause  in  northern  New  York 
dark  and  unpromising.  Rumor  after  rumor  came  that  the 
Indians  in  the  Mohawk  valley  and  beyond  were  becoming 
extensively  disaffected  toward  the  republican  cause  through 
the  influence  of  Guy  Johnson,  the  Indian  agent,  with  whom 
the  New  York  Provincial  Congress  had  recently  held  a 
somewhat  spicy  correspondence.  Johnson  professed  peace- 
able intentions,  but  his  movements  for  several  months  had 
been  so  suspicious,  that  Tryon  county,  which  embraced  the 
whole  of  the  Mohawk  region  west  of  Schenectada,  was  filled 
with  alarm.  He  had  held  a  council  with  the  Indians  at 
Guy  Park,  (his  residence,  about  a  mile  from  the  present 
village  of  Amsterdam,  on  the  Mohawk,)  in  May,  which 
was  attended  by  delegates  from  the  Albany  and  Tryon 
county  republican  committees.  The  result  was  unsatisfac- 
tory to  all  parties.  The  delegates,  knowing  that  the  In- 
dians had  been  tampered  with,  mistrusted  them  ;  and 
Johnson,  alarmed  by  the  events  at  Lexington  and  Concord, 

*  Life,  of  Peter  Van  Schaack,  by  his  son,  Henry  C.  Tan  Schaack,  page  68. 


350  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

and  by  intimations  which  he  had  received  that  the  Provincial 
Congress  contemplated  the  seizure  of  his  person,  broke  up 
the  council  abruptly  and  called  another  at  the  German 
Flats,  further  up  the  Mohawk,  whither  himself  and  family 
immediately  proceeded.  But  the  council  was  not  held 
there,  and  Johnson,  with  his  family  and  the  Indians, 
pushed  on  to  Fort  Stanwix  (now  Koine),  and  from  there 
went  into  the  wilderness  far  beyond  the  verge  of  civiliza- 
tion. He  visited  the  different  tribes  in  their  habitations  ; 
sat  with  them  at  their  council  fires  ;  estranged  the  Oneidas 
from  the  Reverend  Mr.  Kirkland,  their  beloved  missionary  ; 
and  weakened  every  bond  by  which  the  Six  Nations  had 
been  held  by  the  republican  committees.  And  while  he 
was  thus  stirring  up  the  savages  to  an  active  alliance  with 
the  English  authorities  in  Canada,  Sir  John  Johnson  was 
at  Johnson  Hall  (which  he  had  fortified),  exerting  a  less 
public  but  equally  powerful  influence  as  brigadier  general 
of  the  Tryon  county  militia,  and  having  at  his  beck  a  large 
body  of  loyalists. 

From  the  far  north  intelligence  came  to  Schuyler  that 
the  Caughnawaga  Indians  had  taken  up  the  hatchet  for 
the  enemy,  and  Colonel  Hinman  reported  that  every  thing 
was  in  the  utmost  confusion  at  Ticonderoga,  owing  to  the 
quarrels  of  officers  and  the  scarcity  of  supplies. 

"The  unhappy  controversy"  Schuyler  wrote  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  "which  has  subsisted  between  the  officers  at  Ticonderoga  in 
relation  to  the  command,  has,  I  am  informed,  thrown  every  thing  there 
into  vast  confusion.  Troops  have  been  dismissed ;  others  refuse  to  serve 
if  this  or  that  mail  commands;  the  sloop  is  without  either  captain  or 
pilot,  both  of  which  are  dismissed  or  come  away.  I  shall  hurry  up 
there  much  sooner  than  the  necessary  preparations  here  would  other- 
wise permit,  that  I  may  attempt  to  introduce  some  kind  of  order  and 
discipline  among  them."* 

*  MS.  Letter  Books. 


1775.J  ARNOLD     CURBED.  351 

The  ambitious,  unscrupulous,  and  quarrelsome  Arnold 
was  the  cause  of  all  the  difficulty.  We  have  already  ob- 
served his  assumptions  of  command  and  his  offensive  bear- 
ing toward  other  officers,  especially  toward  Colonel  Allen, 
who  had  been,  by  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  expedi- 
tion against  Ticonderoga,  formally  placed  in  supreme  com- 
mand there.  When  Colonel  Hinman  arrived,  he  too  was 
subjected  to  like  indignities.  Arnold  refused  to  give  up  to 
him  the  command  of  either  Ticonderoga  or  Crown  Point, 
claiming  as  before  to  be  the  chief  by  virtue  of  his  commis- 
sion from  the  Massachusetts  authorities.  Confusion  en- 
sued. Allen  and  Warner,  and  most  of  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys,  returned  home,  and  others  became  disgusted.  Mean- 
while, a  statement  of  his  conduct  had  been  sent  to  the 
Legislatures  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  his 
character  was  portrayed  in  most  unfavorable  colors.  No 
doubt  his  many  faults  were  magnified,  and  his  few  virtues 
overlooked  ;  yet  a  picture  of  his  arrogance  and  ill-nature 
could  not  be  over-drawn.  The  Massachusetts  Provincial 
Congress  believed  their  confidence  in  him  had  been  mis- 
placed, and  appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  all  the 
charges  against  Arnold. 

When  that  committee  arrived  Arnold  was  at  Crown 
Point.  Utterly  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  their  errand,  he 
received  them  courteously  and  talked  to  them  enthusiastic- 
ally of  his  plans  for  the  future  and  his  expected  conquests. 
When  the  object  of  their  visit  was  made  known,  his  indig- 
nation was  fearfully  aroused.  He  felt  conscious  of  having 
performed  good  and  gallant  service,  and,  almost  doubting 
their  allegations,  he  demanded  a  sight  of  their  instructions. 
These  increased  his  rage.  He  found  that  his  inquisitors 
were  commissioned  to  ascertain  his  "  spirit,  capacity,  and 
conduct/'  and  were  clothed  with  authority  to  order  his  re- 


352  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

turn  to  Massachusetts  to  give  a  full  account  of  his  transac- 
tions ;  or  if  he  remained,  to  direct  him  to  be  subservient  to 
Colonel  Hinman,  whom  Trumbull  had  appointed  chief  of 
the  troops  on  service  approved  by  the  Congress  of  the  prov- 
ince within  whose  domain  the  fortresses  stood.  Arnold  was 
greatly  enraged.  He  stamhed,  swore,  cursed  congresses  and 
kings,  fate,  and  all  committee-men,  and  declared,  with  ter- 
rible oaths,  that  he  would  be  second  to  no  man.  Throwing 
up  his  commission  he  discharged  his  men  on  the  spot,  and 
these,  becoming  indignant  in  turn,  some  of  them  refused  to 
serve  under  any  other  leader.  Others,  instigated  by  Arnold, 
threatened  to  sail  for  St.  John's,  independent  of  all  author- 
ity ;  while  the  majority,  more  thoughtful  and  patriotic, 
joined  the  corps  of  Colonel  Easton.  Arnold  treated  the 
committee  with  the  greatest  rudeness,  but  by  judicious 
management  they  persuaded  his  men  to  acquiesce  in  their 
arrangements,  while  the  indignant  commander  proceeded 
to  Cambridge,  to  lay  before  Washington  his  complaint  of 
ill-usage  by  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  July,  General  Schuyler 
proceeded  northward  as  far  as  his  country  seat  at  Saratoga, 
where  his  family  were  then  residing,  and  made  hasty  pre- 
parations for  his  departure  for  Ticonderoga.  Toward  mid- 
night he  received  a  dispatch  by  express  from  the  Albany 
Committee,  giving  him  intelligence,  which  they  had  just 
received  from  Colonel  Nicholas  Herkimer,  in  the  interior, 
that  full  eight  hundred  savages,  under  Joseph  Brant  and 
Walter  Butler,  had  coalesced  with  the  Scotch  Highlanders 
and  other  Tories  under  Sir  John  Johnson,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  forays  upon  the  republican  settlers  in  the  Mo- 
hawk valley,  and  in  cutting  off  supplies  for  the  army  on 
Lake  Champlain.  Brant,  or  Thayendanegea,  was  the  Mo- 
hawk chief  who  became  both  famous  and  notorious  as  the 


1775.]  INDIANS     AND     TORIES.  353 

leader  of  his  people  upon  bloody  scouts,  and  who,  with 
Walter  Butler,  one  of  the  most  cruel  of  white  savages, 
made  Tryon  county  "a  dark  and  bloody  ground"  for  sev- 
eral years.  His  sister,  Molly  Brant,  had  been  first  the 
concubine  and  then  the  wife  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 

This  startling  intelligence  from  the  interior  detained 
Schuyler  at  Saratoga  for  two  or  three  days.  He  had  or- 
dered Captain  Van  Dyck  of  Schenectada  to  march  with 
his  company  to  Lake  George.  That  order  was  counter- 
manded at  the  suggestion  of  the  Albany  Committee,  and 
he  directed  Van  Dyck  to  march  immediately  up  the  Mo- 
hawk valley  to  the  relief  of  the  people  of  Tryon  county. 
"  On  whatever  duty  you  may  be,"  Schuyler  wrote,  "  I 
earnestly  recommend  vigilance  and  care,  that  you  may  not 
meet  with  the  disgrace  of  a  surprise.  Be  careful  that  your 
men  do  not  commit  any  outrages  on  the  inhabitants  whom 
you  are  going  to  protect."* 

The  General's  mind  was  relieved  by  a  letter  from  the 
Albany  Committee,  written  on  the  following  day,  inform- 
ing him  that  the  intelligence  they  had  received  from  the 
interior  was  exaggerated.  Yet  the  movements  of  Guy 
Johnson  caused  much  uneasiness.  He  was  evidently  work- 
ing upon  the  Indian  mind  unfavorably  to  the  republican 
cause.  With  the  pretext  of  an  exercise  of  his  duties  as 
Indian  agent,  he  had  called  a  great  council  of  the  Six  Na- 
tions at  Ontario,  in  the  heart  of  the  country  of  the  fierce 
Cayugas  and  Senecas.  His  family  had  gone  with  him  into 
the  wilderness,  followed  by  a  large  train  of  Mohawk  war- 
riors. He  was  accompanied  by  Brant  (whom  Sir  William 
Johnson  had  caused  to  be  educated  at  Dr.  Wheelock's  school, 
in  Connecticut,)  as  his  secretary,  and  by  Colonel  John  But- 
ler and  his  son  Walter.     There  he  met  almost  fourteen 

*  Autograph  draft  of  letter,  July  14, 1775. 


354  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

hundred  savages,  and  held  a  conference,  which,  to  him,  was 
very  satisfactory. 

From  that  rude  council  chamber  Johnson  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  the  president  of  the  New  York  Provin- 
cial Congress  : 

Ontario,  July  8,  1775. 

"  Sir  :  Though  I  received  your  letter  from  the  Provincial  Congress 
several  days  ago,  I  had  not  a  good  opportunity  to  answer  it  till  now.  I 
suppose,  however,  this  will  reach  you  safe,  notwithstanding  all  the  rest 
of  my  correspondence  is  interrupted  by  ignorant  impertinents. 

"  As  to  the  endeavor  you  speak  of  to  reconcile  the  unhappy  differ- 
ences between  the  parent  State  and  these  colonies,  be  assured  I  ardently 
wish  to  see  them.  As  yet,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  have  not  been  able  to 
discover  any  attempt  of  that  kind  but  that  of  the  Assembly,  the  only 
true  legal  representatives  of  the  people ;  and  as  to  the  individuals  who 
you  say  officiously  interrupt  (in  my  quarter)  the  mode  and  measures  you 
think  necessary  for  these  salutary  purposes,  I  am  really  a  stranger  to  them. 
If  you  mean  myself  you  must  have  been  grossly  imposed  on.  I  once, 
indeed,  went  with  reluctance,  at  the  request  of  several  of  the  principal 
inhabitants,  to  one  of  the  people's  meetings,  which  I  found  had  been 
called  by  an  itinerant  New  England  leather-dresser,  and  conducted  by 
others,  if  possible,  more  contemptible.  I  had,  therefore,  little  inclination 
to  revisit  such  men,  or  attend  to  their  absurdities.  And  although  I  did 
not  incline  to  think  that  you,  gentlemen,  had  formed  any  designs  against 
me,  yet  it  is  most  certain  that  such  designs  were  formed.  Of  this  I  re- 
ceived a  clear  account  by  express  from  a  friend  near  Albany,  which  was 
soon  corroborated  by  letters  from  other  quarters,  particularly  one  from 
a  gentleman  of  the  Committee  at  Philadelphia,  a  captain  in  your  levies, 
who  was  pretty  circumstantial,  and  since  I  have  had  the  like  from  many 
others.  I  have  likewise  found  that  mean  instruments  were  obviously 
employed  to  disturb  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  to  interrupt  the  ordinary 
discharge  of  my  duties  and  prevent  their  receiving  messages  they  had 
long  since  expected  from  me.  To  enter  into  a  minute  detail  of  all  the 
falsehoods  propagated  and  all  the  obstructions  I  met  with;  though  it 
could  not  fail  astonishing  any  gentlemen  disposed  to  discountenance 
them,  would  far  exceed  the  limits  of  a  letter  or  the  time  I  have  to  spare, 
as  I  am  now  finishing  my  congress,  entirely  to  my  satisfaction,  with 
1,348  warriors,  who  came  hither  to  the  only  place  where  they  could 
transact  business  or  receive  favors  without  interruptions,  and  who  are 
much  disatisfied  at  finding  that  the  goods  which  I  was  necessitated  to 
send  for  to  Montreal  were  obliged  to  be  ordered  back  by  the  merchant, 


1T75.]        JOHNSON    AND    THE    SIX    NATIONS.         355 

to  prevent  his  being  insulted  or  his  property  invaded  by  the  mistaken 
populace — that  their  ammunition  was  stopped  at  Albany — the  persons 
on  this  communication  employed  in  purchasing  provisions  for  the  Con- 
gress insulted,  and  all  my  letters,  as  well  as  even  some  trifling  articles 
for  the  use  of  my  own  table  stopped  ;  and  this  moment  the  Mayor  of 
Albany  assured  me  that  he  was  the  other  day  aroused  out  of  his  bed, 
at  a  certain  Mr.  Thompson's,  above  the  German  Flats,  by  one  Herkimer, 
and  fifteen  others,  who  pursued  him  to  search  for  any  things  he  might 
have  for  me. 

"You  may  be  assured,  sir,  that  this  is  far  from  being  agreeable  to  the 
Indians ;  that  it  might  have  produced  very  disagreeable  consequences 
long  since,  had  not  compassion  for  a  deluded  people  taken  place  of  every 
other  consideration.  And  that  the  impotent  endeavors  of  a  missionary 
(who  has  forfeited  his  honor  pledged  to  me,)  with  part  of  one  of  the 
tribes,  is  a  circumstance  that,  however  trifling,  increases  their  resent- 
ment 

I  should  be  much  obliged  by  your  promises  of  discountenancing  any 
attempts  against  myself,  etc.,  did  they  not  appear  to  be  made  on  condi- 
tions of  compliance  with  Continental  or  Provincial  Congresses,  or  even 
committees  formed,  or  to  be  formed,  many  of  whose  resolves  may  neither 
consist  with  my  conscience,  duty,  or  loyalty.  I  trust  I  shall  always 
manifest  more  humanity  than  to  promote  the  destruction  of  the  inno- 
cent inhabitants  of  a  colony  to  which  I  have  been  always  warmly  at- 
tached, a  declaration  that  must  appear  perfectly  suitable  to  the  character 
of  a  man  of  honor  and  principle,  who  can  on  no  account  neglect  those 
duties  that  are  consistent  therewith,  however  they  may  differ  from  sen- 
timents now  adopted  in  so  many  parts  of  America. 

"  I  sincerely  wish  a  speedy  termination  to  the  present  troubles,  and 
I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"G.  JOHNSOK. 

"  I  shall  have  occasion  to  meet  the  Indians  of  my  department  in 
different  quarters  this  season." 

Johnson  went  from  Ontario  to  Oswego,  where  he  in- 
vited the  Six  Nations  to  another  council,  to  "  feast  on  a 
Bostonian  and  to  drink  his  blood" — in  other  words,  to  eat 
a  roasted  ox  and  drink  a  pipe  of  wine.  The  council  was 
held,  and  the  Six  Nations  were  further  estranged  from 
the  republicans.  Then  Johnson,  with  a  large  number  of 
the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  confederacy,  who  had  been 
invited  to  an  interview  with  Sir  Guy  Carleton  and  Sir 


356  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

Frederick  Haldimand  at  Montreal,  crossed  Lake  Ontario 
and  went  down  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Meanwhile  the  Continental  Congress,  perceiving,  from 
the  frequent  letters  of  General  Schuyler  and  others  in 
New  York,  the  great  importance  of  keeping  a  vigilant  eye 
upon  the  Six  Nations  and  other  Indians,  and  of  preserving 
their  neutrality  if  not  securing  their  alliance,  established  a 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Indian  Affairs,  in  three  dis- 
tinct departments,  known  as  the  Northern,  Middle,  and 
Southern.  They  appointed  as  such  commissioners  for  the 
Northern  department  General  Philip  Schuyler,  Major  Jo- 
seph Hawley,  Turbutt  Francis,  Oliver  Wolcott,  and  Volck- 
ert  P.  Douw.  They  also  adopted  appropriate  "  talks"  or 
addresses  to  the  Indians,  in  which  the  nature  of  the 
quarrel  between  the  colonists  and  the  mother  country  was 
explained  ;  and  they  were  entreated  to  remain  at  home  in 
peace  :* 

"  We  desire,"  they  said,  "  you  will  hear  and  receive  what  we  have 
now  told  you,  and  that  you  will  open  a  good  ear,  and  listen  to  what  we 
are  now  going  to  say.  This  is  a  family  quarrel  between  us  and  old 
England.  You  Indians  are  not  concerned  in  it.  We  do  not  wish  you 
to  take  up  the  hatchet  against  the  King's  troops.  We  desire  you  to  re- 
main at  home,  and  not  join  on  either  side,  but  keep  the  hatchet  buried 
deep.  In  the  name  and  behalf  of  all  our  people  we  ask  and  desire  you 
to  love  peace  and  maintain  it,  and  to  love  and  sympathize  with  us  in  our 
troubles,  that  the  path  may  be  kept  open  with  all  our  people  and  yours 
to  pass  and  repass  without  molestation.  *  *  *  What  is  it  we  have  asked 
of  you  ?  Nothing  but  peace,  notwithstanding  our  present  disturbed 
situation ;  and  if  application  should  be  made  to  you  by  any  of  the  King's 
unwise  and  wicked  ministers  to  join  on  their  side,  we  -only  advise 
you  to  deliberate  with  great  caution,  and  in  your  wisdom  look  forward 
to  the  consequences  of  a  compliance.  For  if  the  King's  troops  take 
away  our  property,  and  destroy  us  who  are  of  the  same  blood  with 
themselves,  what  can  you,  who  are  Indians,  expect  from  them  after- 
ward? Therefore,  we  say,  brothers,  take  care !  hold  fast  to  your  cove- 
nant chain." 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  July  12,  13,  17*75. 


1775.]  EMPLOYMENT     OF     INDIANS.  357 

This  was  an  honest  effort  to  keep  the  savages  from  the 
field,  and,  had  a  like  humane  and  discreet  policy  governed 
the  councils  of  the  British  ministry  and  their  agents,  many 
a  horrible  deed,  whose  record  stains  the  annals  of  that  pe- 
riod, would  never  have  been  committed.  But  at  that  very 
time,  when  the  Republicans  were  endeavoring  to  chain  the 
bloodhounds,  Johnson  and  his  superiors  in  Canada  were 
inciting  them  to  engage  in  the  contest,  and  carry  on  their 
hellish  warfare  side  by  side  with  the  troops  of  enlightened 
England.  British  historians  have  asserted  to  the  contrary  ; 
and  the  character  of  the  really  humane  Carieton  has  been 
defended  by  assertions  that  he  discountenanced  all  alliance 
with  the  Indians  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  But  almost 
thirty  years  afterward,  Brant,  the  most  noted  of  the  allied 
chiefs,  bore  explicit  testimony  to  the  contrary  in  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  his  speech,  in  which  he  recapitulated  the 
services  of  the  Mohawks  during  the  contest : 


"  I  exhort  you,"  Carieton  said  to  us,  "  to  continue  your  adherence  to 
the  King,  and  not  to  break  the  solemn  agreement  made  by  your  fore- 
fathers ;  for  your  own  welfare  is  intimately  connected  with  your  con- 
tinuing the  allies  of  his  Majesty.  He  also  said  a  great  deal  more  to  the 
same  purport.  *  *  *  A  council  was  next  convened  at  Montreal  in  July, 
1775,  at  which  the  Seven  Nations  (or  Caughnawagas)  were  present,  as 
well  as  ourselves,  the  Six  Nations.  On  this  occasion  General  Haldi- 
mand  told  us  what  had  befallen  the  King's  subjects,  and  said,  '  Now  is 
the  time  for  you  to  help  the  King.  The  war  has  commenced.  Assist 
the  King  now,  and  you  will  find  it  to  your  advantage.  Go,  now,  and 
fight  for  your  possessions,  and  whatever  you  lose  of  your  property  dur- 
ing the  war,  the  King  will  make  up  to  you  when  peace  returns.'  This 
is  the  substance  of  what  General  Haldimand  said.  The  Caughnawaga 
Indians  then  joined  themselves  to  us.  We  immediately  commenced  in 
good  earnest,  and  did  our  utmost  during  the  war."* 

*  Stone's  Life  of  Brant,  i.  89.  "  The  speech  of  Brant,  from  which  the 
preceding  extract  is  taken,"  says  Mr.  Stone,  "was  written  in  the  Mohawk 
language,  and  never  by  him  rendered  into  English."  Mr.  Stone  procured  its 
translation  for  his  work. 


358  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

General  Schuyler  reached  Ticonderoga  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  18th  of  July,  and  entered  immediately 
into  an  examination  of  the  condition  of  the  fort  and  gar- 
rison. He  found  every  thing  in  a  wretched  state.  The 
army  was  comparatively  but  a  handful,  and  the  supplies 
were  very  meager.  The  troops  under  Colonel  Hinman 
numbered  only  about  twelve  hundred.  They  consisted 
chiefly  of  Connecticut  people,  some  New  York  volunteers, 
and  a  few  Green  Mountain  Boys.  Most  of  them  were  un- 
disciplined, and  those  from  Connecticut  were  extremely  in- 
subordinate. Unaccustomed  to  actual  military  service  ; 
having  volunteered  to  perform  the  duty  required  of  them  ; 
feeling  a  perfect  equality  with  the  officers  set  over  them  ; 
and  demoralized  by  the  quarrels  of  their  official  superiors, 
of  which  they  had  been  daily  witnesses,  they  were  in  an 
unfit  mood  for  yielding  to  the  requirements  of  necessary 
discipline,  especially  such  as  General  Schuyler  felt  it  his 
duty  to  impose.  He  found  Colonel  Hinman  only  a  nomi- 
nal commander  of  the  garrison,  for  very  few  of  his  men 
were  disposed  to  obey  him.  This  was  a  state  of  things 
which  Schuyler  could  not  endure  for  a  moment.  He  was 
a  thorough  disciplinarian,  naturally  authoritative,  and  pre- 
cise and  systematic  in  all  his  arrangements.  He  was  there- 
fore much  annoyed  by  all  that  he  saw  and  heard  after 
reaching  the  head  of  Lake  George,  and  on  the  evening  of 
the  day  of  his  arrival  he  wrote  as  follows  to  General  Wash- 
ington, at  Cambridge  : 

"  You  will  expect  that  I  should  say  something  about  this  place  and 
the  troops  here.  Not  one  earthly  thing  for  offense  or  defense  has  been 
done.  The  commanding  officer  had  no  orders ;  he  only  came  to  rein- 
force the  garrison,  and  he  expected  the  general.  (But  this,  my  dear 
general,  as  well  as  what  follows  in  this  paragraph,  I  pray  may  be  entre 
nous,  for  reasons  which  I  need  not  suggest.)  About  ten  last  night  I 
arrived  at  the  landing-place,  the  north  end  of  Lake  George,  a  post  oc 


1115.]  CRUDE     ARMIES.  359 

eupied  by  a  captain  and  one  hundred  men.  A  sentinel,  on  being  in- 
formed that  I  was  in  the  boat,  quitted  his  post  to  go  and  awake  the 
guard,  consisting  of  three  men,  in  which  he  had  no  success.  I  walked 
up  and  came  to  another,  a  sergeant's  guard.  Here  the  sentinel  chal- 
lenged, but  suffered  me  to  come  up  to  him ;  the  whole  guard,  like  the 
first,  in  soundest  sleep.  With  a  pen-knife  only  I  could  have  cut  off  both 
guards,  and  then  have  set  fire  to  the  blockhouse,  destroyed  the  stores, 
and  starved  the  people  here.  At  this  post  I  had  pointedly  recommended 
vigilance  and  care,  as  all  stores  for  Fort  George  must  necessarily  be 
landed  there.  But  I  hope  to  get  the  better  of  this  inattention.  The 
officers  and  men  are  all  good  looking  people,  and  decent  in  their  de- 
portment, and  I  really  believe  will  make  good  soldiers,  as  soon  as  I  can 
get  the  better  of  this  nonchalance  of  theirs.  Bravery,  I  believe,  they 
are  far  from  wanting."* 

This  letter  brought  a  sympathetic  response  from  Wash- 
ington, written  on  the  28th  of  the  month.  The  Com- 
mander-in-Chief had  arrived  at  Cambridge  on  the  2d  of 
July,  where  he  was  greeted  by  the  shouts  of  a  great  mul- 
titude of  soldiers  and  citizens,  the  clangor  of  bells,  the 
strains  of  martial  music,  and  the  waving  of  banners,  and 
escorted  to  the  house  in  which  he  made  his  headquarters. 
On  the  following  day,  seated  upon  his  large  white  horse  of 
Arabian  blood,  he  reviewed  the  troops  and  took  formal 
command  of  the  army.  Like  Schuyler,  his  first  care  was 
to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the  post 
and  the  character  and  position  of  the  enemy's  works.  The 
inquiry  revealed  much  to  discourage  a  less  trusting  spirit 
than  his.  He  found  a  disposition  to  insubordination  the 
rule,  and  good  discipline  and  cheerful  obedience  the  excep- 
tion ;  and  with  the  hope  of  inspiring  the  troops  with  a  due 
sense  of  the  importance  of  the  service  and  the  necessity  for 
perfect  obedience,  harmony,  and  good  will,  he  issued  a  gen- 
eral order  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  model  of  its  class, 
in  which,  in  a  few  words,  he  evoked  harmony,  order,  the 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  July  18,  1775. 


360  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

exercise  of  patriotism,  morality,  sobriety,  and  an  humble 
reverence  for  and  reliance  upon  Divine  Providence. 

Every  day  some  new  difficulty,  some  weakness  unob- 
served before,  some  exhibition  of  an  impatient  if  not  an 
actually  mutinous  spirit  in  the  troops  caused  Washington 
to  feel  that  a  fearful  weight  of  responsibility  was  resting 
upon  his  shoulders  ;  and  with  a  full  appreciation  of  the 
situation  of  Schuyler,  he  wrote  to  him  in  reply  to  that  of- 
ficer's letter  respecting  affairs  at  Ticonderoga,  saying  : 

"  I  can  easily  judge  of  your  difficulties  in  introducing  order  and  dis- 
cipline into  troops  who  have  from  their  infancy  imbibed  ideas  of  the  most 
contrary  kind.  It  would  be  far  beyond  the  compass  of  a  letter  for  me 
to  describe  the  situation  of  things  here  on  my  arrival.  Perhaps  you  will 
only  be  able  to  judge  of  it  from  my  assuring  you  that  mine  must  be  a 
portraiture  at  full  length  of  which  you  have  had  in  miniature.  Confu- 
sion and  discord  reigned  in  every  department,  which,  in  a  little  time, 
must  have  ended  either  in  the  separation  of  the  army  or  fatal  contests 
with  one  another.  *  *  *  However,  we  mend  every  day,  and  I  flatter 
myself  that  in  a  little  time  we  shall  work  up  these  raw  materials  into  a 
good  manufacture.  I  must  recommend  to  you  what  I  endeavor  to  prac- 
tice myself — patience  and  perseverance." 

To  this  Schuyler  replied,  after  thanking  him  for  his 
"  very  kind  and  polite  letter  :" 

"  I  foresaw,  my  dear  sir,  that  you  would  have  an  herculean  labor  in 
order  to  introduce  that  proper  spirit  of  discipline  and  subordination 
which  is  the  very  soul  of  an  army,  and  I  felt  for  you  with  the  utmost 
sensibility,  as  I  well  knew  the  variety  of  difficulties  you  would  have  to 
encounter.  *  *  *  I  can  easily  conceive  that  my  difficulties  are  only  a 
faint  semblance  of  yours.  Yes,  my  General,  I  will  strive  to  copy  your 
bright  example,  and  patiently  and  steadily  persevere  in  that  line  which 
alone  can  promise  the  wished  for  reformation."* 

General  Schuyler  set  about  reforms  with  a  will  and  en- 
ergy that  soon  produced  material  changes.  Yet  there  was 
so  much  tardiness  in  the  service,  in  all  directions,  that  he 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  August  6,  1775 


1115.]  THE     CANADIANS.  361 

could  accomplish  but  little  in  preparations  either  for  an 
invasion  of  Canada  or  a  successful  defense  should  a  respect- 
able force  make  its  way  up  the  lake  from  that  province.  It 
was  very  difficult  to  procure  reliable  intelligence  from  Mon- 
treal and  Quebec.  Every  account  concurred  in  represent- 
ing the  Canadians  as  being  generally  favorable  to  the 
republicans,  while  the  elders  of  the  Caughnawagas  were 
hesitating  whether  to  lift  the  hatchet  for  the  King,  as  the 
young  men  desired  to,  or  remain  at  home  in  peace.  The 
moment  seemed  favorable  for  marching  to  the  borders  of, 
and  perhaps  into  that  province  ;  and  circumstances  were 
occurring  which  made  it  probable  that  the  golden  moment 
was  passing  when  an  almost  bloodless  conquest  might  be 
won.  Kobert  Benson,  Chairman  of  the  New  York  Com- 
mittee of  Safety,  in  a  postscript  to  a  letter,  had  said : 
"General  Burgoyne  has  not  been  seen  at  Boston  since  the 
17th  ult.  (June),  and  it  is  currently  reported  and  believed 
that  he  is  gone  to  Quebec  ;"*  while  a  gentleman  just  ar- 
rived from  Montreal  stated  that  Governor  Carleton  was 
very  sanguine  that,  through  the  influence  of  the  Eoman 
Catholic  clergy,  the  Canadians  might  be  kept  neutral,  if 
not  be  made  friendly  to  the  government,  and  that  troops 
from  England  or  Boston  were  expected  at  Quebec.  Other 
accounts  contradicted  this. 

These  items  of  intelligence  made  Schuyler  impatient, 
and  he  wrote  to  every  person  and  public  body  from  whom 
he  had  a  right  to  expect  aid,  urging  them  to  put  forth  all 
their  energies  in  providing  him  with  men,  money,  stores, 
and  munitions  of  war.  He  was  informed  that  the  British 
were  strengthening  St.  John's,  at  the  foot  of  the  lake,  and 
were  making  preparations  to  construct  vessels  for  a  fleet. 

*  Autograph  letter. 

16 


362  PHILIP     SCHUYLER 


[Ma  42. 


"But,  unfortunately,"  he  wrote  to  the  Continental  Congress, '"  not 
one  earthly  thing  has  been  done  here  to  enable  me  to  move  hence.  I 
have  neither  boats  sufficient,  nor  any  materials  prepared  for  building 
them.  The  stores  I  ordered  from  New  York  are  not  yet  arrived.  I 
have,  therefore,  not  a  nail,  no  pitch,  no  oakum,  and  want  a  variety  of 
articles  indispensably  necessary,  which  I  estimated  and  delivered  into 
the  New  York  Congress  on  the  3d  instant.  An  almost  equal  scarcity 
of  ammunition  exists,  no  powder  having  yet  come  to  hand.  Not  a  gun 
carriage  for  the  few  proper  guns  we  have,  and  as  yet  very  little  provis- 
ion. There  are  now  two  hundred  troops  less  than  by  my  last  return. 
These  are  badly,  very  badly  armed,  indeed ;  and  only  one  poor  armorer 
to  repair  their  guns."* 

The  tardiness  with  which  the  troops  for  the  service  as- 
sembled gave  Schuyler  more  uneasiness  than  any  thing 
else.  Those  of  Connecticut,  under  General  Wooster,  at 
New  York  and  on  Long  Island,  were  very  slow  in  their 
movements  ;  and  the  preparations  of  the  New  York  levies 
for  the  field  seemed  to  have  almost  ceased  after  he  left  for 
the  north.  On  this  subject  he  wrote  very  urgent  letters  to 
the  Provincial  Congress.  That  body,  utterly  powerless, 
sent  his  letters  to  the  New  York  delegates  in  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  with  an  earnest  appeal. 

"  We  have  no  arms,  we  have  no  powder,  we  have  no  blankets," 
they  said.  "  For  God's  sake,  send  us  money,  send  us  arms,  send  us 
ammunition.  Burgoyne,  we  learn,  has  gone  to  Quebec.  If  Ticon- 
deroga  is  taken  from  us,  fear,  which  made  the  savages  our  friends,  will 
render  them  our  enemies.  Ravages  on  our  frontiers  will  foster  dissen- 
tions  among  us  ruinous  to  our  cause.     Be  prudent,  be  expeditious." 

To  General  Schuyler  they  wrote  at  the  same  time  in  an 
equally  despairing  tone,  saying  : 

"  We  have  already  ordered  to  Albany  tents  for  one  regiment.  Our 
troops  can  be  of  no  service  to  you.  They  have  no  arms,  clothes,  blankets, 
or  ammunition ;  the  officers  no  commissions ;  our  treasury  no  money ;  our- 
selves in  debt.  It  is  in  vain  to  complain.  We  will  remove  difficulties 
as  fast  as  we  can,  and  send  you  soldiers  whenever  the  men  we  have 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  July  21,  1775. 


1115.]  GREEN     MOUNTAIN     BOYS.  3G3 

raised  are  entitled  to  that  name.  *  *  *  Use,  we  pray  you,  the  bad  troops 
at  Ticonderoga  as  well  as  you  can."* 

Yet  Schuyler  was  not  discouraged.    "  I  hope/'  he  wrote 

to  Governor  Trumbull,  "  in  a  little  while  to  make  all  ob-' 

'  I 

stacles  vanish.     Much  may  be  done  when  people  set  down 

to  business  with  hand  and  heart."  A  few  days  afterward 
he  was  cheered  by  the  announcement  that  his  wishes  had 
been  complied  with,  in  the  appointment  of  necessary  offi- 
cers for  his  department.  Walter  Livingston  (already  em- 
ployed by  Schuyler)  was  appointed  deputy  commissary- 
general  of  stores  and  provisions,  Donald  Campbell  was 
made  deputy  quarter-master  general,  and  Gunning  Bedford 
deputy  muster-master  general. f 

Feuds  had  caused  delay  in  the  organization  of  the 
regiment  of  Green  Mountain  Boys.  Schuyler  had  no  con- 
fidence in  their  professions  of  strength  in  numbers  and 
zeal  in  patriotism.  Under  their  title  he  had  known,  for 
several  years,  a  set  of  rioters  and  lawless  men,  who  had 
defied  the  authorities  of  his  province,  and  he  was  not  at  all 
pleased  with  the  idea  of  having  those  train-bands  as  a  part 
of  his  army.  He  was,  therefore,  extremely  cautious,  and 
took  pains  to  know  whom  he  was  to  call  to  the  field  before 
he  issued  his  proclamation  of  the  resolves  of  the  two  con- 
gresses. He  accordingly  wrote  to  Stephen  Fay,  a  leading 
man  of  Bennington,  saying  : 

"  Who  the  people  are  that  are  designated  by  the  appellation  of  Green 
Mountain  Boys,  I  am  at  a  loss  particularly  to  determine.  Perhaps  such 
of  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony  as  reside  on  what  are  commonly  called 
the  New  Hampshire  Grants  are  intended.  In  this  doubt  I  find  myself, 
under  the  necessity  of  applying  to  you  for  information,  which  I  entreat, 
and  make  no  doubt  but  you  will  give  me  with  all  that  candor  which,  as 
a  friend  to  your  country,  is  your  indispensable  duty  to  do." J 

*  Journals  of  the  New  York  Committee  of  Safety,  July  15,  1775. 
\  Journals  of  Congress,  July  17,  1775. 
%  MS.  Letter  Books,  July  10,  1775. 


364  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42 

He  then  urged  Mr.  Fay  to  take  such  necessary  steps 
"  as  that  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  whoever  they  may  be," 
might  immediately  proceed  to  the  election  of  their  officers, 
and  fill  the  regiment  without  delay.  Mr.  Fay  assured  him 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Grants  were  the  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys  alluded  to,  and  that  they  would  "  esteem  it  a 
favor  to  be  incorporated  into  an  independent  battalion," 
subject  to  the  required  regulations.  "  As  to  the  nomina- 
tion of  the  officers,"  he  said,  "  I  am  advised  to  mention 
none  to  your  honor  except  the  field  officers,  which  are  uni- 
versally approved  of,  namely,  Mr.  Ethan  Allen  and  Mr. 
Seth  Warner."* 

Meanwhile,  Allen  and  Warner  had  become  impatient 
of  the  delay.  In  a  letter  to  Governor  Trumbull,  the  latter 
said  : 

"  Were  it  not  that  the  grand  Continental  Congress  had  totally  incor- 
porated the  Green  Mountain  Boys  into  a  battalion,  under  certain  regu- 
lations and  command,  I  would  forthwith  advance  them  into  Canada  and 
invest  Montreal,  exclusive  of  any  help  from  the  colonies ;  though,  under 
present  circumstances,  I  would  not,  for  my  right  arm,  act  without  or 
contrary  to  order.  If  my  fond  zeal  for  reducing  the  King's  fortresses, 
or  destroying  or  imprisoning  his  troops  in  Canada,  be  the  result  of  en- 
thusiasm, I  hope  and  expect  the  wisdom  of  the  continent  will  treat  it 
as  such ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  if  it  proceed  from  sound  policy,  that 
the  plan  will  be  adopted."! 

Allen  and  Warner  visited  Ticonderoga,  and  laid  before 
General  Schuyler  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  Grants.  They 
spoke  of  the  feuds  that  delayed  the  organization  of  the 
regiment,  and  acknowledged,  what  Schuyler  had  suspected, 
that  the  number  of  Green  Mountain  Boys  was  so  small 
that  they  would  be  compelled  to  recruit  in  New  England 
to  make  up  the  complement  of  five  hundred  men.     Not 

*  Autograph  letter,  July  13,  1775. 

f  American  Archives,  ii.  1,649,  July  12,  1775. 


H15.]  A     FEUD.  365 

doubting  their  own  election  to  the  highest  posts,  they  urged 
him  to  empower  them  to  appoint  all  the  subordinate  offi- 
cers. He  referred  them  to  the  resolutions  of  both  con- 
gresses, which  left  the  choice  of  all  the  officers  to  the 
people  ;  and  the}'  departed,  not  well  pleased  with  the  re- 
sults of  their  visit,  nor  with  each  other. 

Soon  after  this  Allen  and  Warner  quarreled.  Their 
respective  friends  became  antagonistic  partisans  and  the 
feud  was  intensified.  Others  felt  disposed  to  drop  them 
both,  and  give  the  field  offices  to  less  objectionable  men. 
Mr.  Fay's  letter,  in  which  he  had  recommended  them,  of- 
fended some  of  the  leading  persons  in  the  Grants,  and  they 
wrote  to  Schuyler  on  the  subject,  urging  him  not  to  issue 
any  commissions  until  the  voice  of  the  people,  expressed 
in  a  convention  about  to  be  held,  could  be  heard,  when  he 
should  "  be  favored  with  an  authentic  answer  to  his  letter." 
Schuyler  paid  very  little  attention  to  these  communications. 
He  had  no  love  for  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  as  a  body, 
and  these  feuds,  standing  in  the  way  of  the  public  service, 
disgusted  him.  He  was  willing  to  dispense  with  the  services 
of  Colonel  Allen  altogether,  for,  prejudiced  perhaps  by  past 
occurrences,  he  regarded  him  as  selfish  in  his  ambition,  na- 
turally insubordinate,  and  too  indiscreet  to  be  a  safe  leader. 

The  more  thoughtful  men  of  the  Grants,  looking  at  the 
past,  and  contemplating  the  aspect  of  the  future,  also  felt 
a  doubt  of  the  policy  of  placing  Allen  at  the  head  of  the 
regiment  ;  and  when,  at  last,  toward  the  close  of  July,  the 
election  was  held,  he  was  passed  by.  They  omitted  to 
choose  a  colonel,  and  Warner  was  nominated  for  lieutenant- 
colonel. 

Allen,  who  had  not  the  least  doubt  of  his  election,  was 
much  mortified.  "  Notwithstanding  my  zeal  and  success 
in  my  country's  cause,"  he  wrote  to  Governor  Trumbull, 


366  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

"  the  old  farmers  in  the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  who  do 
not  incline  to  go  to  war,  have  met  in  a  committee  meeting, 
and  in  their  nomination  of  officers  for  the  regiment  of 
Green  Mountain  Boys  have  wholly  omitted  me."  Many 
were  pleased  ;  and  General  Montgomery,  when  he  heard  of 
it,  wrote  to  Schuyler,  saying  :  "It  is  a  change  which  will 
he  very  acceptable  to  our  convention." 

Allen,  who  was  undoubtedly  a  true  patriot,  and  did  not 
really  deserve  the  suspicions  and  dislike  of  Schuyler,  did 
not  suffer  this  severe  disappointment  to  chill  his  zeal  in  the 
cause,  and  he  immediately  repaired  to  Ticonderoga  and  of- 
fered his  services  to  the  General  as  a  volunteer.  Even 
these  were  at  first  refused,  for  Schuyler  doubted  whether 
he  could  keep  the  restless  republican  within  due  bounds. 
He  finally  accepted  his  services,  and  employed  him  in 
pioneer  duties  on  the  frontier,  in  which  he  was  energetic 
and  faithful. 

Another  volunteer  for  similar  service  appeared.  Major 
John  Brown,  an  American  resident  on  the  banks  of  the 
Sorel  or  Bichelieu  river,  who  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  character  of  the  Canadians,  the  impressions  to  which 
they  were  most  susceptible,  and  the  topography  and  re- 
sources of  their  country,  offered  to  use  his  influence  in 
persuading  the  inhabitants  to  join  the  republican  standard. 
He  came  well  recommended,  and  General  Schuyler  at  once 
commissioned  him  for  the  service,  and  furnished  him  with 
the  following  general  letter  to  such  persons  as,  in  his  judg- 
ment, would  give  information  and  efficient  aid  : 

|  "  Ticonderoga,  July  21,  1775. 

"  Sir  : — Reports  prevail  that  General  Ctfrleton  intends  an  excursion 
into  these  parts ;  that  for  that  purpose  he  is  raising  a  body  of  Canadians 
and  Indians ;  that  he  is  preparing  to  build  as  well  armed  vessels  as  other 
craft  to  transport  troops  across  the  lake ;  that  he  is  strongly  fortifying  St. 
John's ;  that  Colonel  Gluy  Johnson  is  to  join  him  with  a  body  of  In- 


17*75.]  MAJOR     BROWN'S     MISSION.  367 

Indians ;  that  vast  magazines  of  arms  and  ammunition  are  collected  at 
Montreal ;  that  the  Canadians  are  averse  to  take  part  in  the  unhappy 
contest ;  that  they  nevertheless  wish  we  would  enter  Canada  and  attack 
the  regular  troops.  On  every  one  of  these  articles  I  wish  the  fullest  in- 
formation, together  with  such  other  as  you  may  be  enabled  to  give  me. 
The  regular  troops  at  Boston  have  been  severely  handled  by  the  provin- 
cials; a  list  of  the  killed  and  wounded  officers  you  will  see  in  the 
newspapers  which  I  send  you.     Many  of  the  wounded  are  since  dead. 

"  General  Washington  commands  an  army  before  Boston  of  twenty- 
three  thousand  men,  which  is  continually  increasing. 

"  Pennsylvania  has  raised  five  thousand  ;  these,  with  three  thousand 
from  Jersey,  are  encamped  in  different  towns  in  the  Jerseys,  as  near 
New  York  as  they  conveniently  can.  Brigadier  General  Richard  Mont- 
gomery, of  New  York,  and  Brigadier  General  Wooster,  of  Connecticut, 
who  command  under  me,  are  on  their  way  up  to  join  me.  The  latter, 
with  two  thousand  Connecticut  people,  join  me  to-day.  The  former, 
with  three  thousand  New  Yorkers,  is  following — the  front  reach  Fort 
Edward  to-day.  Five  hundred  Green  Mountain  Boys  are  to  join  me  in 
ten  days,  as  also  Colonel  Ross,  with  six  hundred  riflemen  from  the  back 
parts  of  Pennsylvania.  When  these  all  meet,  my  force  will  consist  of 
near  8,000  men. 

"  We  have  just  received  information  that  the  accounts  of  the  Lex- 
ington affair  had  got  home.  It  threw  the  nation  into  the  greatest  fer- 
ment ;  the  ministry  were  loaded  with  curses,  the  Guards  at  St.  James' 
doubled,  the  city  of  London  in  the  greatest  confusion,  and,  to  add  to  all 
this,  they  just  then  received  the  most  alarming  accounts  of  the  intentions 
of  the  Spaniards.  If  the  ministry  would  but  suffer  his  Majesty  to  see 
the  injury  they  are  doing  to  the  empire,  oh !  they  would  give  us  an  op- 
portunity to  fight  the  royal  foes  of  his  royal  house  ;  to  spend  our  blood 
and  treasure  in  supporting  his  dignity  and  resenting  the  insults  the  na- 
tion is  threatened  with  by  the  haughty  Spaniards,  who  are  preparing  to 
take  the  advantage  of  a  divided  empire. 

"PHILIP  SCHUYLER. 

"  Please  to  settle  a  mode  of  correspondence  with  the  bearer.  I  do 
not  direct  this,  lest  the  consequences  should  prove  detrimental  to  yon, 
should  they  fall  into  some  hands."* 

In  his  instructions  to  Major  Brown,  the  General  said  : 
"  Try  to  get  the  Caughnawagas  to  come  and  speak  to  me 
here.  I  will  give  them  presents,  and  renew  that  friendship 
which  subsisted  between  them  and  my  ancestors.     Wild- 

*  Schuyler's  Order  Book. 


368  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

man  knows  me,  and  so  does  Mr.  Williams'*  sister.  I  gave 
her  some  things  the  winter  before  last,  having  sent  for  her 
to  my  house  at  Saratoga." 

General  Schuyler  gave  Major  Brown  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Price,  a  merchant  of  Montreal,  who  was  well-disposed 
toward  the  republican  cause  ;  and  on  Monday  morning,  the 
23d  of  July,  he  set  out  with  Captain  Cochrane  and  a  ser- 
geant, and  two  Frenchmen. 

"  I  am  determined,"  he  'wrote  to  Schuyler,  on  his  departure,  "  to 
touch  at  Caughnawaga  the  first  place  after  hauling  our  boat  out  of  the 
lake  into  some  thicket  near  the  river  La  Colle.  Shall  endeavor  to  see 
John  Station,  an  English  Indian  and  good  old  friend,  by  whose  assist- 
ance I  hope  to  get  access  to  my  friends  at  Montreal,  by  which  means  I 
shall  find  it  in  my  power  to  execute  your  orders  in  every  particular. 
Hope  to  return  as  soon  as  may  be ;  but  if,  through  misfortune,  I  am  de- 
tained and  ill-treated,  I  pray  you  to  advance  with  force  sufficient  to  effect 
with  power  that  which  I  ought  to  have  done  with  policy."t 

*  The  reputed  father  of  Eleazer  Williams,  the  "  Lost  Prince," — the  alleged 
Dauphin  of  France,  son  of  Louis  the  Sixteenth.  The  "  Prince"  died  at  Ho- 
gansburg,  New  York,  in  1859. 

f  Autograph  letter,  July  23,  1175. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

After  the  exercise  of  the  greatest  diligence  and  energy, 
General  Schuyler  found  himself,  at  the  beginning  of  Au- 
gust, as  little  prepared  for  offensive  or  defensive  operations 
as  at  the  beginning  of  July.  Every  thing  appeared  to 
work  unfavorably.  The  country  had  been  parched  during 
a  drought,  which  rendered  food  for  draught  cattle  so  scarce 
that  the  transportation  of  timber  for  boats  and  of  provi- 
sions for  the  garrison  had  been  much  delayed. 

"  It  gave  me  pain,"  he  wrote  to  Governor  Trumbull,  "  to  learn  that 
not  less  than  fifty  milch  cows  were  on  their  way  here  for  the  use  of 
Colonel  Hinman's  regiment.  Our  working  cattle  are  in  a  starving  con- 
dition, the  country  being  parched  up  by  the  excessive  drought.  Such 
an  additional  number  of  cattle  would  destroy  the  little  feed  we  have 
left,  and  be  of  very  little  use  to  the  troops."* 

Because  of  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  Schuyler  ordered 
General  Montgomery,  who  had  arrived  at  Albany  on  the 
17th  of  July,  to  encamp  there  all  the  troops  that  he  might 
receive,  until  the  commissariat  at  Ticonderoga  should  be  in 
better  condition.  A  few  days  later  he  wrote  to  General 
Washington,  saying:  "Provisions  of  the  bread  kind  are 
scarce  with  me,  and  therefore  I  have  not  dared  to  order  up 
a  thousand  men  that  are  at  Albany,  lest  we  should  starve 

here/'f 

Schuyler  endeavored  to  create  some  supplies  near  at 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  July  21,  1775.  f  Ibid,  July  31,  1775. 

16* 


370  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

hand.  The  property  of  Colonel  Skene,  which  the  repub- 
licans had  seized,  was  put  to  profitable  use.  His  schooner, 
as  we  have  observed,  had  already  done  good  service  on  the 
lake.  Now  his  saw-mill  was  used  in  preparing  lumber, 
and  his  small  iron  works  were  put  in  operation  under 
the  direction  of  Samuel  Keep,  who  employed  negroes  to 
dig  ore  near  Crown  Point,  and  transport  it  in  scows  to 
Skenesborough.  At  the  same  time  orders  were  given  that 
nothing  should  be  done  detrimental  to  the  private  interests 
of  Colonel  Skene.  All  lawless  use  of  his  property  had 
been  restrained  by  General  Schuyler  ;  and  in  a  letter  to 
Patrick  Langan  (who  had  the  supervision  of  the  Colonel's 
affairs),  directing  the  saw-mill  to  be  put  in  operation,  he 
expressed  a  hope  that  order  might  be  restored,  "as"  he  said, 
""  the  view  of  my  constituents  is,  not  to  distress  any  person 
or  injure  private  property." 

August  was  passing  away,  and  Schuyler  was  still  un- 
supplied  with  men  and  means. 

"Not  a  man  from  this  colony  has  yet  joined  me,"  he  wrote  to 
Washington,  "  except  those  I  returned  to  you  [July  15th],  and  who 
were  raised  and  paid  by  the  Committee  of  Albany ;  nor  have  I  yet  re- 
ceived those  necessary  supplies  which  I  begged  the  ISTew  York  Provin- 
cial Congress  to  send  me  as  long  ago  as  the  third  of  last  month,  which 
the  Continental  Congress  had  desired  them  to  do.  The  troops  here  are 
destitute  of  tents,  and  they  are  crowded  into  vile  barracks,  which,  with 
the  natural  inattention  of  the  soldiery  to  cleanliness,  has  already  been 
productive  of  disease,  and  numbers  are  daily  rendered  unlit  for  duty."* 

Jealousies  arising  out  of  the  clashing  authorities  of  the 
Continental  Congress  and  the  provincial  legislatures  were 
now  beginning  to  bear  their  legitimate  fruit,  in  the  form  of 
assumptions  by  inferiors  which  were  detrimental  to  har- 
mony and  efficiency  in  the  military  service. 

We  have  already  observed  the  insubordination  of  the 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  August  6,  1*775. 


m5.]  JEALOtTSIES.  371 

Connecticut  troops,  owing  chiefly  to  their  idea  of  perfect 
equality  with  their  officers,  forgetting  that  in  their  agree- 
ment to  follow  a  leader  some  of  their  rights  as  citizens  were 
surrendered.  The  private  soldier,  who  felt  at  liberty  to  obey 
or  not  to  obey  his  captain,  also  claimed  the  right  to  be  fed 
and  sheltered  by  whomsoever  he  might  choose  to  administer 
the  comfort,  and  not  by  another.  This  feeling  of  individ- 
ual independence  was  shared  by  most  of  the  Connecticut 
officers  and  men  as  a  body  ;  and  when  the  Continental  Con- 
gress placed  them  in  service  on  Lake  Champlain,  under  the 
general  command  of  a  New  York  officer,  they  felt  shorn  of 
their  dignity  as  citizens  of  another  province,  seemingly  for- 
getful that  in  the  great  struggle  before  them  the  united 
colonies  composed  their  country,  and  not  the  single  com- 
monwealth in  which  they  happened  to  reside.  This  feeling 
had  manifested  itself  in  many  ways,  much  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  General  Schuyler,  whose  views  of  patriotic  sym- 
pathy, zeal,  and  service  were  broader  than  the  domains  of 
his  own  province.  It  at  length  found  expression  so  offen- 
sive that  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  rebuke  it. 

When  troops  were  raised  in  Connecticut,  Elisha  Phelps 
was  appointed  by  the  Assembly  of  that  province  a  general 
commissary  to  supply  them,  and  Jedediah  Strong,  a  repre- 
sentative in  that  assembly  from  Litchfield,  was  made  a 
deputy  commissary  to  supply  the  troops  under  Colonel 
Hinman.  Strong  was  engaged  in  that  service  when  those 
soldiers  where  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Schuy- 
ler, and  Phelps  made  his  residence  at  Albany,  from  which 
place  he  might  more  readily  forward  supplies  to  the  army 
at  Ticonderoga.  Both  he  and  Strong  appear  to  have  been 
energetic  and  faithful  men,  and  had  reason  to  expect  pro- 
motion if  any  should  be  given. 

Unfortunately  for  the  harmony  and  best  interests  of  the 


372  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

service,  Walter  Livingston,  a  nephew  of  General  Schuyler, 
and  quite  a  young  man,  was,  on  the  recommendation  of  his 
uncle,  appointed  by  the  Continental  Congress,  as  we  have 
seen,  deputy  commissary-general  for  the  Northern  depart- 
ment. He  was  every  way  competent  to  perform  the  duties 
of  that  office,  and  his  numerous  family  connections  gave 
him  valuable  advantages  in  the  work  of  his  department. 
But  he  superseded  those  already  in  the  service,  and  aroused 
a  feeling  of  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  New  England  offi- 
cers and  troops  which  was  productive  of  evil  to  the  com- 
mon cause. 

Mr.  Strong,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Phelps,  had  vis- 
ited General  Schuyler  at  Ticonderoga  on  business  connected 
with  the  supply  of  the  Connecticut  troops,  and  was  return- 
ing to  Albany  in  company  with  Mr.  Livingston,  when  they 
met,  on  Lake  George,  a  gentleman  from  Philadelphia, 
bearing  from  the  Congress  the  latter' s  commission  as  de- 
puty commissary-general.  The  question  immediately  arose 
as  to  the  extent  of  his  powers.  Livingston  properly  con- 
tended that  his  commission  gave  him  official  superiority  to 
both  Phelps  and  Strong.  They  denied  it.  High  words 
ensued.  Phelps  and  Strong  contended  that  Livingston  was 
only  a  deputy  to  the  former  ;  that  it  was  his  business  to 
purchase  provisions,  etc.,  and  deliver  them  to  Phelps  at 
Albany  ;  and  that  the  Continental  Congress  did  not  intend 
to  turn  the  latter  out  of  office  while  he  behaved  himself. 

"  I  told  him,"  wrote  Phelps  to  Schuyler,  "  that  there  need  be  no  dif- 
ficulty between  us ;  that  he  would  have  business  enough,  so  should  I. 
However,  it  did  not  satisfy  the  young  gentleman,  who  said  if  he  could 
not  have  all  the  business  he  would  not  have  any,  and  added  that  your 
Honor  had  procured  him  his  commission ;  that  he  was  a  nephew  of 
yours,  and  that  he  would  write  to  you  and  let  you  know  that  I  would 
not  resign.  I  think  I  can  not  answer  it  to  the  honorable  Continental 
Congress,  or  the  colony  of  Connecticut  or  the  Massachusetts  Bay  [the 


1775.]  WRANGLINGS     ABOUT     OFFICE.  373 

latter  concurred  with  Connecticut  in  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Phelps,] 
if  T  did,  for  I  think  him  not  a  faithful  and  good  soldier  who  gives  up  his 
commission  before  he  is  superseded  or  regularly  dismissed."* 

The  three  contestants  wrote  to  General  Schuyler  on  the 
same  day.  Phelps'  letter,  in  courteous  words,  submitted 
the  simple  facts  in  the  case,  and  begged  General  Schuyler 
to  "  interpose  and  direct,"  that  the  business  might  be  so 
managed  by  them  as  not  "  to  interfere  with  or  disoblige 
the  common  cause."  Strong,  less  discreet,  wrote  an  offen- 
sive letter.  He  spoke  of  his  own  ill-requited  services  ;  the 
unfulfilled  promises  of  supplies  for  the  Connecticut  troops 
made  by  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  ;  and  of 
his  recent  purchases  of  provisions  and  live  cattle  for  those 
troops.  He  inquired  what  should  be  done  with  his  pur- 
chases ;  referred  to  the  appointment  of  Livingston  by  say- 
ing :  "I  find  employed  some  people  never  recommended  to 
that  department  by  the  colony  [Connecticut],  to  purchase 
our  cattle  with  our  own  money  at  an  advanced  price  ;" 
reminded  Schuyler  of  an  alleged  promise  on  his  part  to  re- 
commend Strong  to  the  commissary-general,  whomsoever 
he  might  be  ;  and  expressed  a  hope  that  Commissary 
Phelps  might  be  retained  in  office,  because  he  had  con- 
ducted the  business  with  fidelity  and  dispatch.  After 
some  remarks  complimentary  of  General  Schuyler^  Strong 
said : 

"  'T  is,  therefore,  from  your  well  known  acquaintance  with  human 
nature,  your  candor,  justice,  and  generosity,  that  I  entertain  the  highest 
expectations  and  strongest  assurance  that  your  influence  will  be  success- 
fully used  in  removing  every  jealousy  and  every  cause  of  it  which  might 
tend  to  alienate  the  affections  of  any  colony  or  any  part  of  the  army 
towards  so  worthy  a  general  and  so  noble  an  enterprise.  G-od  forbid  that 
any  overgrown  colony  or  overbearing  man  should  at  this  critical  juncture 
use  such  pernicious  partiality  as  to  attempt  to  monopolize  every  emolument 

*  Autograph  letter,  July  28,  1775. 


374  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [jj&Tm  42. 

and  exclude  every  instrument  of  public  service,  for  no  other  accusation 
or  complaint  than  that  he  belongs  to  the  most  patriotic,  free,  and  gener- 
ous colony  on  earth."* 

General  Schuyler  took  fire  at  the  perusal  of  Strong's 
letter,  and  wrote  an  indignant  reply.  That  letter  had  im- 
impeached  his  honor,  and,  by  implication,  arraigned  his  in- 
tegrity. After  reminding  Strong  that  it  was  the  duty  of  all 
to  acquiesce  in  the  determinations  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, and  "  to  obey  their  orders  without  entering  into  the 
reasons  upon  which  they  were  founded  ;"  that  Mr.  Living- 
ston, by  virtue  of  his  commission,  had  the  control  of  all 
other  commissaries  in  the  department,  because  he  was  re- 
sponsible for  their  conduct  ;  that  none  but  incompetent  or 
useless  men  would  be  discharged,  and  that  Captain  Phelps 
would  be  retained,  he  informed  him  that  Mr.  Livingston 
would  receive  the  provisions  and  cattle  whenever  they 
should  be  delivered  to  him.     He  then  said  : 

"  I  should  have  closed  my  letter  here,  but  that  I  think  myself  under 
a  necessity  to  put  you  right  in  some  matters.  You  say  '  When  I  find 
employed  some  people  never  recommended  to  that  department  by  the 
colony,  to  purchase  our  cattle  with  our  own  money.'  Remember,  sir, 
that  the  appointment  was  not  made  by  me;  that  it  was  made  by  the 
Continental  Congress,  in  which  the  colony  of  Connecticut  is  represented. 
That  neither  the  cattle  nor  any  other  stores  are  to  be  bought  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  colony  of  Connecticut ;  they  are  to  be  purchased  at  the 
joint  expense  of  the  associated  colonies,  agreeable  to  the  quota  fixed  or 
to  be  fixed  by  the  Continental  Congress ;  and  I  believe  it  will  be  no 
great  hardship,  in  that  case,  for  the  people  of  Connecticut  to  have  their 
cattle  purchased  by  whomsoever  it  may  be  done,  or  with  any  current 
money  whatever. 

"  I  really  do  not  know  what  you  mean  by  '  monopolizing  every 
emolument.'  I  do  not  know  who  has  done  it.  I  have  not.  If  the 
Continental  Congress  has  done  it,  I  am  not  the  person  you  should  com- 
plain to.  I  am  their  servant,  and  not  their  superior.  A  copy  of  your 
letter  I  shall  transmit  to  that  respectable  body. 

"  I  readily,  sir,  agree  with  the  encomium  you  have  bestowed  on  the 

*  Autograph  letter,  July  28,  1775. 


1775.]  REPROOF.  375 

colony  of  Connecticut,  having  ever  entertained  the  highest  opinion  of 
their  virtue  and  patriotism,  in  which  I  am  not  singular. 

"  What  you  intend  by  using  the  epithet  '  overgrown'  is  best  knowd 
to  yourself;  my  construction  of  it  is  not  very  favorable  to  you. 

"  I  shall  always  consider  it  an  indispensable  part  of  my  duty  to  try 
to  remove  every  cause  of  jealousy  in  the  army  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  command,  and  I  sincerely  wish  none  may  prevail  between  any  colo- 
nies, overgrown  or  not.  I  am  not  conscious  that  I  have  given  the  least 
cause  for  any.  If  I  have,  I  wish  you  would  complain  of  me  to  the 
Congress.     If  not,  you  might  have  spared  the  observation."* 

To  Mr.  Phelps  the  General  wrote  : 

"  Mr.  Livingston's  appointment  is  made  by  the  Continental  Congress, 
who  are  my  constituents,  and  whose  orders  I  am  implicitly  to  obey,  and 
so,  indeed,  is  every  person  that  has  any  concern  with  the  army,  in  what- 
ever station  he  may  be.  You  seem  to  be  little  acquainted  with  military 
distinctions,  not  to  know  that  a  deputy  commissary-^eweraZ's  commission 
supersedes  a  mere  commissary's.  Such  an  appointment  is  absolutely 
necessary,  that  every  general  who  commands  an  army  may  have  only 
one  person  to  apply  to  to  furnish  him  with  what  may  be  wanted,  and 
that  person  must  then  be  accountable."! 

General  Schuyler  also  wrote  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress on  the  same  day,  and  inclosed  copies  of  the  letters  of 
Phelps  and  Strong.  He  acquainted  that  body  of  the  re- 
fusal of  Strong  to  yield  to  Livingston,  and  added  :  "  I 
should  not  have  troubled  you  with  these  letters,  but  that 
you  may  from  them  see  the  necessity  of  some  general  reso- 
lution of  the  Congress  to  cure  all  this  jarring." 

Before  this  letter  reached  Philadelphia,  the  Continental 
Congress  had  adjourned  until  the  fifth  of  September,  after 
having  appropriated  "  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  to  be  applied  toward  the  dis- 
charge of  monies  advanced  and  the  debts  contracted  for 
the  public  service/'  by  the  convention  of  New  York  and 
the  Albany  Committee  ;  and  a  further  sum  of  one  hundred 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  July  31,  1775.  +  Ibid. 


376  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

thousand  dollars  for  the  use  of  the  northern  army,  "  in  such 
manner  as  General  Schuyler,  by  his  warrant,  shall  limit  and 
appoint."* 

The  correspondence  between  Schuyler  and  the  Connec- 
ticut commissaries  produced  much  ill-feeling  at  the  time, 
nd  was  one  of  the  causes  of  discord  and  contention,  dis- 
trust and  heart-burning,  which  prevailed  in  the  Northern 
army  during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign.  The  sectional 
feeling  of  both  the  New  York  and  Connecticut  troops  was 
strong,  and  General  Schuyler  was  not  the  person  to  allay  it 
by  concessions.  He  was  eminently  just  and  generous  as  a 
man  ;  as  a  soldier  he  was  inflexible  in  his  demands  for 
obedience  and  the  respect  due  to  his  rank  and  position. 
He  was  naturally  quick-tempered,  but  placable  ;  impatient 
of  disobedience  ;  punctilious  in  his  requirements  of  atten- 
tion to  every  form  of  etiquette  pertaining  to  the  service  ; 
never  deigning  to  argue  with  an  inferior,  and  seldom  ex- 
plaining his  motives  for  a  command.  In  his  manner  he 
was  dignified,  but  not  haughty  ;  as  a  disciplinarian  he  was 
exacting  and  uncompromising.  He  made  labor  a  rule — an 
absolute  necessity — for  each  soldier  reported  fit  for  duty. 
Work,  work,  work,  whenever  needed  and  in  whatever  form, 
was  required  of  the  troops  ;  and  the  idleness  that  prevailed 
in  the  camp  previous  to  his  arrival  entirely  disappeared. 
The  exigencies  of  the  service  required  such  industry,  and 
the  health  of  the  soldiers  demanded  it.  Laborers  outside  of 
the  army  were  few,  and  money  for  wages  was  scarce.  He 
therefore  converted  the  garrison  into  a  hive  of  industry,  and 
had  every  soldier  thoroughly  drilled  for  the  service  before 
him.  This  discipline,  and  labor,  and  authoritative  exac- 
tions, so  essential  to  the  success  of  the  expedition,  were 
novelties  in  the  experience  of  the  troops.     They  were  en- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  August  1,  1775. 


1775.1  AFFAIRS     IN     CANADA.  377 

dured  as  a  scourge  by  those  who  imagined  that  a  soldier 
had  little  else  to  do  while  in  camp  but  to  keep  his  weapons 
clean  and  practice  the  military  art ;  and  Schuyler  was  re- 
garded by  many  as  an  imperious  taskmaster.  Bat  those 
who  knew  him  intimately,  shared  his  confidence,  and  ap- 
preciated the  value  of  his  discipline  to  the  service,  loved 
and  honored  him  as  a  wise,  kind-hearted,  noble,  and  gen- 
erous man. 

While  Major  Brown  was  absent  on  his  mission,  Schuy- 
ler received  intelligence  from  Canada  that  made  him  more 
impatient  than  ever  to  move  down  the  lake  and  take  pos- 
session of  St.  John's.  He  was  informed  that  a  force  of 
four  or  five  hundred  Canadians  were  assembled  at  that 
place,  and  were  supplied  with  provisions  from  Montreal 
and  Quebec  ;  that  two  fortifications  were  in  process  of 
erection  there,  and  that  one  was  nearly  completed,  mount- 
ing eight  field-pieces  and  some  small  mortars  ;  that  thirty 
or  forty  heavy  guns,  with  carriages,  had  been  brought  up 
to  Chamblee,  twelve  miles  distant ;  that  the  enemy  were 
building  large  vessels  at  St.  John's,  to  carry  sixteen  to 
eighteen  guns  each  ;  that  four  regiments  of  regulars  were 
expected  at  Quebec  ;  that  Colonel  John  Johnson,  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Colonel  Daniel  Claus,  were  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Montreal,  with  about  five  hundred  Tories  and 
Indians  ;  and  that  the  clergy  and  seigniors  of  Canada  were 
endeavoring  to  stimulate  the  inhabitants  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  republicans.  He  was  also  informed  that  the 
Canadians  were  generally  disposed  to  be  neutral ;  that  in 
a  recent  attempt,  by  officers  sent  for  the  purpose,  to  com- 
pel them  to  take  up  arms,  in  which  several  who  refused 
were  killed,  they  had  assembled  to  the  number  of  three 
thousand,  disarmed  some  of  the  officers,  and  obliged  others 
to  desist ;  and  that  the  inhabitants  were  so  well  disposed 


378  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

toward  the  republicans,  that  if  an  army  sufficient  to  pro- 
tect them  should  be  immediately  marched  into  the  province, 
they  would  certainly  not  take  up  arms  for  the  King,  and 
would  probably  be  active  in  the  liberal  cause.* 

But  Schuyler's  efforts  toward  adequate  preparations  for 
advancing  upon  St.  John's  were,  as  yet,  almost  unavailing. 
He  had  constructed  some  boats,  was  building  others,  and 
had  procured  officers  to  command  them  ;  but  men,  and 
supplies  of  every  kind,  were  wanting.  He  appealed  to  the 
Continental  Congress  for  powder,  for  money,  and  for  hos- 
pital stores.  * 

"  I  shall  not  have  quite  a  ton  of  powder  when  the  troops  are  com- 
pleted to  a  pound  a  man,"  he  wrote.  "  Out  of  about  five  hundred  men 
who  are  here,  near  one  hundred  are  sick,  and  I  have  not  any  kind  of 
hospital  stores.  The  little  wine  I  had  for  my  own  table  I  have  deliv- 
ered to  the  regimental  surgeon.  That  being  expended,  I  can  no  longer 
bear  the  distress  of  the  sick,  and,  impelled  by  the  feelings  of  humanity, 
I  shall  take  the  liberty  immediately  to  order  a  physician  from  Albany 
(if  one  can  be  got  there,  as  I  believe  there  may,)  to  join  us  with  such 
stores  as  are  indispensably  necessary."! 

The  Continental  Congress  had  adjourned  and  gone 
home,  and  Schuyler's  letters  remained  unanswered  by  them 
for  a  month.  Dr.  Franklin,  the  president  of  the  Philadelphia 
Committee  of  Safety,  opened  them  and  sent  them  to  Pres- 
ident Hancock,  but  that  officer  had  no  delegated  power  to 
give  orders  in  the  premises,  and  Schuyler  was  left  to  "act," 
as  he  said,  upon  his  "  own  ideas  of  things  in  a  critical  situ- 
ation." He  appealed  to  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New 
York,  but  almost  in  vain.  At  that  moment  they  could  do 
absolutely  nothing.  Their  inability  was  called  indifference 
by  some,  and  disaffection  by  others. 

*  MS.  Depositions  of  John  Duguid  and  John  Shatforth,  taken  before 
General  Schuyler,  at  Ticonderoga,  August  2,  1775. 
f  MS.  Letter  Books,  August  6,  1775. 


1775.]  EMBARRASSMENTS.  379 

"  By  all  the  appearances  of  the  conduct  of  the  province  of  New 
York,"  wrote  Samuel  Mott  from  Ticonderoga  to  Governor  Trumbull, 
"  they  still  are  unsound  at  heart.  They  make  a  great  noise,  and  send 
forward  a  few  officers  to  command,  etc.,  and  all  the  carpenters  and  ar- 
tificers who  are  to  have  extra  pay;  but  I  believe  as  to  soldiers  in  the 
service,  they  are  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  strong  at  all  the 
posts  this  side  of  Albany ;  and  it  is  feared  by  many  discerning  men 
that  even  their  Provincial  Congress  have  scarcely  a  majority  who  are 
sound  friends  to  the  cause.  *  *  *  The  General  drives  things  on  as  fast 
as  he  can,  considering  what  hinderance  he  has  for  want  of  nails,  etc., 
and  I  believe  him  to  be  a  very  resolute,  good  officer."*  "The  New 
Yorkers,"  wrote  Major  Brown  to  the  same  gentleman,  "  have  acted  a 
droll  part,  and  are  determined  to  defeat  us  if  in  their  power.  They 
have  failed  in  men  and  supplies." 

The  omission  of  New  York  to  raise  men  at  that  time, 
ought  not  to  have  been  a  cause  for  unqualified  censure,  for 
it  had  been  mutually  stipulated  that  Connecticut  should 
furnish  troops,  and  New  York  supplies.  But  the  latter 
was  a  difficult  task. 

"  You  can't  conceive,"  wrote  Livingston,  president  of  the  New  York 
Congress,  to  General  Schuyler,  in  a  private  postcript  to  a  public  letter 
announcing  the  forwarding  of  supplies  by  Peter  Curtenius,  the  con- 
tractor ;  "  you  can't  conceive  the  trouble  we  have  with  our  troops 
for  the  want  of  money.  To  this  hour  we  have  not  received  a  shilling 
of  the  public  money.  Two  of  our  members  have  been  at  Philadelphia 
almost  a  fortnight  waiting  for  the  cash.  Our  men  insist  on  being  paid 
before  they  march,  not  their  subsistence  only,  but  also  their  billeting 
money.     Perhaps  no  men  have  been  more  embarrassed  than  we."t 

"  The  corporation  arms,"  wrote  Alexander  McDougall,  the  ardent 
Son  of  Liberty,  who  had  been  appointed  colonel  of  the  first  regiment 
of  New  York  troops,  "  were  so  scattered  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
that  it  was  with  infinite  trouble  we  were  able,  out  of  530,  to  collect  470, 
notwithstanding  a  severe  resolution  of  Congress  issued  to  call  them  in; 
and  when  they  were  sent  to  the  gunsmith's,  for  want  of  money  to  dis- 
charge their  bills  they  gave  the  preference  to  other  work."J 

Major  Brown  returned  to  Ticonderoga  on  the  15th  of 

*  August  4,  1775,  American  Archives,  iii.  22. 
f  Autograph  letter,  August  21,  1775. 
\  Autograph  letter,  August  9,  1775. 


380  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

August,  and  reported  that  there  were  seven  hundred  regu- 
lar troops  in  Canada,  three  hundred  of  whom  were  at  St. 
John's  ;  others  formed  a  small  garrison  at  Quebec  ;  and 
the  remainder  were  at  Montreal,  Chamblee,  and  posts  at 
the  Cedars  and  Oswegatchie  (now  Ogdensburgh),  further 
up  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  had  learned  that  Sir  John  John- 
son was  at  Montreal,  with  a  band  of  almost  three  hundred 
Tories  and  some  Indians,  trying  to  persuade  the  Caughna- 
wagas  to  take  up  the  hatchet  for  the  King.  He  confirmed 
the  previous  report  of  fortifications,  vessels,  and  cannon  at 
St.  John's,  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  Canadians 
(who  believed  that  the  old  French  laws,  which  would  im- 
pose heavy  taxes  upon  them,  were  about  to  be  revived) 
were  anxious  to  see  a  strong  army  enter  their  province  and 
relieve  them  from  British  rule,  but  were  unwilling  to  take 
up  arms.  He  was  assured  that  the  Indians  would  go  with 
the  Canadians  ;  and  he  closed  his  report  by  an  expression 
of  his  belief  that  the  conquest  of  Canada,  if  undertaken  at 
at  once,  might  be  easily  achieved. 

Major  Brown  did  not  accomplish  all  that  Schuyler  had 
expected,  but  his  information  was  sufficiently  reliable  and 
complete  to  induce  the  General  to  push  forward  to  St. 
John's  even  with  his  small  force,  inadequately  supplied,  as 
soon  as  he  should  receive  positive  orders  from  Washington 
to  do  so.  "  I  am  prepared,"  he  wrote  to  the  commander- 
in-chief,  "  to  move  against  the  enemy,  unless  your  Excel- 
lency and  Congress  should  direct  otherwise."* 

Troops  and  supplies  were  then  going  forward.  The 
Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  were  using  every  effort  to 
furnish  the  quota  of  one  thousand  men  required  of  them 
by  the  Continental  Congress.  They  had  organized  four 
regiments  of  infantry,  under  the  respective  commands  of 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  August  6,  1775. 


1775.]  TROOPS     MOVING     NORTHWARD.  381 

Colonels  McDougall,  Yan  Schaick,  Clinton,  and  Holmes  ; 
and  some  of  them  were  on  the  point  of  departure  for  the 
North  at  this  time.  Captain  John  Lamb,  who  had  re- 
ceived valuable  instructions  on  engineering  and  gunnery 
from  Christopher  Colles,  had  been,  at  his  own  request, 
commissioned  to  raise  an  artillery  company  of  one  hundred 
men.  These  were  attached  to  Colonel  McDougalFs  regi- 
ment, but  on  a  footing  superior  to  that  of  the  infantry,  and 
were  ordered  to  join  General  Schuyler  as  speedily  as  possi- 
ble. General  Wooster,  who  had  been  ordered  to  Ticon- 
deroga  with  one  thousand  troops,  had  despatched  "  the 
whole  of  Colonel  Waterbury's  regiment,  except  the  sick," 
and  "  Captain  Douglas'  company."*  Waterbury  arrived 
at  Albany  at  about  the  time  when  Schuyler  wrote  to 
Montgomery  to  detain  the  troops  there  on  account  of 
scarcity  of  provision  at  Ticonderoga  :  and  at  his  own  re- 
quest, he  had  advanced  as  far  as  Half-Moon  Point  (now 
Waterford),  to  avoid  "  the  small-pox  and  debauchery"  in 
Albany.  His  men  were  employed  in  repairing  the  roads 
between  his  camp  and  Forts  Edward  and  George.  These 
now  marched  toward  Ticonderoga. 

The  New  Hampshire  Committee  of  Safety  offered  to 
send  to  Schuyler  three  companies  of  sixty  men  each,  "  ran- 
gers, hunters,  and  men  accustomed  to  the  woods,"  under 
Colonel  Bedell,  whom  they  recommended  as  "  a  person  of 
great  experience  in  war,  and  well  acquainted  in  Canada."f 
These  had  been  raised  as  a  guard  on  the  western  frontiers 
of  Connecticut.  Their  services  were  not  needed  there,  and 
they  had  been  offered  to  General  Washington.  His  army 
was  sufficiently  strong,  and  he  recommended  them  to  the 
army  of  the  North.     They  were  accepted  gladly,  for  the 

*  Wooster  to  Schuyler,  autograph  letter,  July  29,  1775- 

|  Matthew  Thornton  to  Schuyler,  autograph  letter,  August  7,  1775. 


382  PHILIP      SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

tardiness  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  in  forming  their  regi- 
ment, gave  indication  that  they  might  not  fulfill  the  bright 
promises  made  by  Allen  and  Warner  at  the  beginning. 

Governor  Trumbull  sent  Schuyler  cheering  words  of 
encouragement  ;  and  Silas  Deane,  one  of  the  most  active 
of  the  Connecticut  delegates  in  Congress,  and  who  had 
been  among  the  earliest  promoters  of  the  scheme  for  cap- 
turing the  lake  fortresses  and  invading  Canada,  advised 
him  to  rely  upon  the  Connecticut  people  for  provisions,  for, 
he  said,  "  I  fear  you  will  find  New  York  but  a  broken  reed, 
and  if  you  should  depend  too  far  I  fear  the  consequences. 
Cattle,  and  sheep,  as  well  as  pork,  can  best  be  procured  in 
this  colony."0 

Dr.  Franklin,  who  had  been  touched  by  Schuyler's  ap- 
peals to  the  Continental  Congress  in  the  letters  he  had 
opened,  wrote  to  him,  as  president  of  the  Philadelphia 
Committee  of  Safety,  saying  : 

"  I  did  myself  the  honor  of  writing  to  you  by  the  return  of  your 
express  on  the  8th  instant.  Immediately  after  dispatching  him,  it  oc- 
curred to  me  to  endeavor  the  obtaining  from  our  Committee  of  Safety 
a  permission  to  send  you  what  powder  remained  in  our  hands,  which, 
though  it  was  thought  scarcely  safe  for  ourselves  to  part  with  it,  they, 
upon  my  application,  and  representing  the  importance  of  the  service 
you  are  engaged  in,  and  the  necessity  you  are  under  for  that  article, 
cheerfully  agreed  to.  Accordingly,  I  this  day  dispatch  a  wagon  with 
twenty-four  hundred  pounds  weight,  which  actually  empties  our  maga- 
zine. I  wish  it  safe  to  your  hands,  and  to  yourself  every  kind  of  pros- 
perity.! 

The  cautious  Chase,  deputy  from  Maryland,  who  had 
not  favored  the  invasion  of  Canada,  wrote  from  Annapolis 
on  the  same  day,  saying  : 

u  I  am  sensible  of  the  many  difficulties  you  have  to  encounter,  and 
of  the  anxiety  of  mind  naturally  attendant  on  your  very  important,  and 

*  Autograph  letter,  August  15,  1775. 
f  Autograph  letter,  August  10,  1775. 


1775.]  ADJUTANT-GENERAL.  383 

I  am  afraid,  very  dangerous  command.  I  sincerely  wish  you  may  be 
enabled  to  render  any  effectual  service  to  America.  Powder  you  will 
receive ;  provisions,  I  hope,  will  be  better  supplied,  and  a  sufficient  body 
of  troops  furnished  to  render  the  event  favorable  to  your  most  sanguine, 
expectations. 

"  I  can  not  but  interest  myself  in  your  success.  The  expediency, 
the  prudence  of  the  expedition  is  left  to  your  judgment.  A  provident 
condition,  a  sine  qua  non  of  marching  into  Quebec,  is  the  friendship  of 
the  Canadians ;  without  their  consent  'and  approbation  it  is  not  to  be 
undertaken.  So  I  understand  the  resolution  of  the  Congress.  The  gen- 
erality, the  bulk  of  mankind  judge  only  from  the  success.  I  think  you, 
therefore,  in  a  very  critical  situation,  and  that  an  exertion  of  all  your 
faculties  of  mind  and  body  are  necessary.  May  I  be  permitted  to  wish 
that  a  military  ardor,  a  soldier's  honor,  or  a  compliance  with  the  temper 
and  inclinations  of  others,  may  not  prevail  over  your  better  judgment. 
There  may  be  some,  from  want  of  discretion,  and  others  from  envy,  who 
may  be  urging  you  to  undertake  what  your  prudence  may  condemn.  I 
hope  I  have  not  said  too  much,  and  that  my  anxiety  will  be  imputed 
to  no  other  cause  than  my  zeal  for  America  and  my  regard  for  you. 
God  grant  you  success."* 

Toward  the  middle  of  August,  Jonathan  Trumbull,  son 
of  the  Connecticut  governor,  was  appointed  paymaster- 
general  for  the  Northern  Department,  and  at  about  the 
same  time  Judge  William  Duer,  residing  at  Fort  Miller, 
in  Charlotte  county,  received  from  the  New  York  Provin- 
cial Congress  the  commission  of  deputy  adjutant-general 
of  the  New  York  forces.  Sometime  before,  Schuyler  had 
contemplated  nominating  Colonel  Arnold  for  that  office. 
Notwithstanding  Arnold's  infirmities  of  temper  and  haugh- 
tiness of  spirit,  Schuyler  admired  his  daring  courage,  his 
energetic  industry,  and  his  skill  and  j  udgment  as  a  military 
commander  ;  and  no  one  doubted  his  patriotism.  Before 
Arnold  left  Crown  Point  for  Cambridge  in  partial  disgrace, 
Schuyler  wrote  to  Silas  Deane  on  the  subject,  and  upon 
that  hint,  which  was  communicated  to  Arnold,  the  indig- 
nant Colonel  asserted,  in  support  of  his  character,  that  the 

*  Autograph  letter,  August  10,  1775. 


384  PHILIP     SCHUYLEB.  |>Et.  42. 

office  of  adjutant-general  of  the  Northern  department  had 
been  offered  to  him.  This  report  produced  some  uneasiness 
in  the  public  mind. 

"  I  am  informed,"  wrote  Mr.  Duer,  "  that  Colonel  Arnold  reports  that 
you  have  offered  him  the  commission  of  adjutant-general  to  the  New 
York  forces.  If  this  is  the  case  (though  I  must  confess  that  I  think  it  is 
not),  his  late  conduct  at  Ticonderoga  must  have  been  grossly  misrepre- 
sented to  you ;  for  I  am  very  sensible  you  would  not  think  of  showing 
any  mark  of  favor  to  any  one  whose  unaccountable  pride  should  lead 
him  to  sacrifice  the  true  interests  of  the  country.  From  this  motive, 
and  from  the  consideration  of  my  being  engaged  in  his  controversy  with 
the  Boston  Committee,  I  am  led  to  request  that  you  will  make  an  in- 
quiry into  the  matter  ;  and  I  am  sensible  that  if  you  ever  had  such  an 
intention  as  he  reports,  the  result  of  a  mature  investigation  into  his  con- 
duct will  induce  you  to  abandon  it.  If  you  never  had  such  a  design,  I 
shall  be  glad  to  have  permission  to  contradict  it,  because  a  public  belief 
of  your  intentions  in  his  favor  is  a  tacit  reproach  of  my  conduct,  who 
exerted  myself  to  the  utmost  in  defeating  his  designs."* 

Schuyler  saw  the  impropriety  of  his  nomination  at  that 
time,  although  he  had  not  lost  his  confidence  in  the  real 
value  of  the  services  of  Arnold.  He  afterward  offered  to 
nominate  Judge  Duer  to  the  same  office,  who  hesitated  in 
agreeing  to  accept  it,  because  his  business  connections  with 
his  brothers  in  the  island  of  Dominica  might  cause  them  to 
lose  their  fortunes  on  account  of  his  political  conduct.  He 
received  the  appointment,  however,  but  when  his  commis- 
sion arrived  he  went  immediately  to  New  York  to  submit 
his  case  to  a  confidential  committee  of  the  Congress.  "  Be 
assured,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  that  nothing  less  than  the 
critical  situation  in  which  I  am  could  prevent  me  from  join- 
ing you  at  this  time."f  He  felt  compelled  to  refuse  the  ap- 
pointment, and  Schuyler  undertook  the  invasion  of  Canada 
without  an  adjutant-general. 

Mr.  Deane;  meanwhile,  had  conferred  with  Arnold  at 

*  Autograph  letter,  July  19,  1775. 
f  Autograph  letter,  August  10,  1775. 


1775.]  A    PLEA     FOR     ARNOLD.  385 

Cambridge,  who  yet  had  hopes,  it  appears,  of  receiving 
that  appointment,  or  some  other  of  equal  importance,  under 
Schuyler. 

*  Colonel  Arnold  has  been  hardly  treated,  in  my  opinion,  by  this 
colony,  through  some  mistake  or  other,"  Deane  wrote  to  Schuyler. 
"  You  once  wrote  to  me  in  his  favor  for  the  office  of  adjutant-general  in 
your  department.  If  the  post  is  not  filled  I  wish  you  to  remember  him, 
as  I  think  he  has  deserved  much  and  received  little,  or  less  than  nothing, 
and  it  would  be  a  very  unhappy  state  of  things  if  every  gentleman  con- 
cerned in  the  first  adventure  that  way  should  be  neglected.  If  you 
design  for  Montreal,  Colonel  Arnold  will,  I  trust,  have  the  command  of 
a  body  of  men  capable  of  making  a  powerful  diversion  in  your  favor  ; 
but,  at  any  rate,  he  ought  to  be  made  use  of,  not  to  provide  for  him 
merely,  but  to  make  use  of  those  abilities  and  activity  of  which  I  am 
sure  he  is  possessed."* 

*  Autograph  letter,  August  10,  1775. 
17 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

While  waiting  for  orders  from  General  Washington 
to  proceed  to  St.  John's,  General  Schuyler  went  to  Albany 
to  confer  with  the  Committee  of  Safety  there,  and  with 
the  Indian  Commissioners.  He  had  written  urgent  letters 
to  both  concerning  the  importance  of  an  immediate  con- 
ference with  the  heads  of  the  Six  Nations  ;  and  also  with 
the  Caugimawagas,  if  they  could  be  induced  to  attend. 
There  had  been  delay  in  the  action  of  the  Committee  and 
the  commissioners,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  Douw 
and  Francis,  two  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  board. 
Of  this  tardiness  Schuyler  had  complained  to  the  Com- 
mittee, who,  in  reply,  assured  him  that  it  had  not  been 
for  want  of  zeal  on  their  part,  and  that  they  should  heart- 
ily cooperate  with  the  commissioners. 

Schuyler  left  Brigadier-General  Montgomery  in  chief 
command  at  Ticonderoga  during  his  absence,  and  departed 
for  Albany  on  the  17th  of  August,  with  the  intention  of 
returning  in  the  course  of  a  few  days.  On  his  arrival  at 
Saratoga,  he  was  informed  that  quite  a  large  body  of 
Indians,  of  the  Six  Nations,  were  to  be  in  Albany  the 
following  week,  and  that  his  presence  at  the  conference  to 
be  held  with  them,  by  the  commissioners,  would  be  indis- 
pensable. As  preliminary  to  this  conference,  Douw  and 
Francis  had  held  a  council  with  some  of  the  chiefs  at  the 
German  Flats,  on  the  15th  and  16th  of  the  month,  and 


1775.]  CONFERENCE     WITH     INDIANS.  387 

explained  to  them  the  importance  of  immediate  action. 
But  the  attendance  of  Indians  at  Albany  was  not  large. 
The  great  body  of  the  Mohawk  warriors  had  left  the  coun- 
try with  Brant ;  and  the  most  influential  of  the  Onon- 
dagas,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas,  had  accompanied  Guy 
Johnson  and  Brant  to  Montreal.  The  larger  number 
of  those  present  were  Oneidas,  and  leading  men  of  the 
Schoharie  canton  of  the  Mohawks,  the  latter  headed  by 
Little  Abraham,  the  sachem  of  the  Lower  Mohawk  Castle, 
and  next  to  Brant  in  influence  over  the  minds  of  the  Na- 
tion. 

The  Indians  first  held  a  conference  with  the  Albany 
Committee  concerning  some  local  matters,  and  then,  on 
the  24th,  received  a  complimentary  visit  from  the  Indian 
Commissioners,  and  a  deputation  of  the  leading  men  of 
Albany.  Schuyler  was  at  the  head  of  the  commissioners, 
and  the  chiefs  were  all  rejoiced  to  see  him.  He  had,  long 
before,  been  adopted  as  a  child  of  the  Mohawks,  and  made 
a  chief,  with  the  name  of  Tho-rali  Than-yea-da-kayer. 
All  the  other  commissioners  appointed  by  the  General 
Congress  were  present,  except  the  venerable  Major  Joseph 
Hawley,  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  one  of  the  soundest 
and  purest  patriots  of  the  day.  His  old  age  and  ill-health 
compelled  him  to  decline  the  office.  In  his  letter  to  Schuy- 
ler, acquainting  him  with  his  determination,  Major  Hawley 
said : 

"  From  your  known  character  as  a  most  trusty  and  able  friend  to  the 
liberties  and  rights  of  America,  but  more  especially  from,  the  character 
given  you  by  the  delegates  for  this  colony,  I  greatly  rejoice  at  the 
honorable  and  most  important  offices  which  you  sustain,  and  am  ready 
to  anticipate  the  happiness  of  hearing,  in  a  very  few  days,  of  your  suc- 
cess in  the  all- important  expedition  which  you  are  upon,  and  that  you 
shall  have  safely  penetrated  into  Canada,  at  least  as  far  as  Montreal, 
and  thereby  secure  the  Canadians  and  all  the  Indians  in  the  American 
interest     But  I  ask  your  pardon,  sir,  for  so  much  as  seeming  to  suggest 


388  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

to  you  the  infinite  importance  of  your  enterprise  to  the  American  colo- 
nies. May  Heaven  protect,  direct,  and  animate  you  and  honor  you 
with  glorious  success,  which  will  rejoice  the  hearts  of  all  good  men  in 
Britain  and  America."* 

The  conference  was  commenced  on  the  25th  of  August. 
It  was  opened  by  a  speech  from  an  Oneida  sachem,  after 
which,  all  sat  down  and  smoked  the  pipe  of  peace  together. 
When  this  ceremony  was  ended,  General  Schuyler  read  to 
them  an  appropriate  and  effective  speech  in  behalf  of  the 
commissioners,  reminding  them  of  former  covenants  of 
friendship  with  the  English,  and  exhorting  them  to  cherish 
union  among  themselves,  and  peace  and  friendship  with 
the  colonists.  This  pleased  the  Indians,  for  they  had  ex- 
pected to  be  called  upon  to  take  up  arms  against  the  king. 
With  this  anticipation  the  Oneida  orator  had  explicitly 
declared  that  they  considered  the  great  dispute  a  family 
quarrel,  in  which  they  would  not  interfere,  but  would  re- 
main neutral,  and  hoped  the  commissioners  would  not  re- 
quire more  of  them.  The  Kev.  Mr.  Kirkland  was  the 
interpreter. 

On  the  following  day,  the  address,  prepared  by  the 
Continental  Congress  (considerably  modified  by  the  com- 
missioners), was  presented  to  the  Indians,  the  delivery  and 
interpretation  of  which  occupied  the  sittings  of  two  days. 
The  Indians  then  required  a  whole  day  to  deliberate  among 
themselves  upon  the  subject ;  and  their  final  answer,  made 
by  Little  Abraham,  was  not  delivered  until  the  31st  of 
August. 

Little  Abraham's  speech  was  pacific.  Deceived  by  Sir 
Guy  Johnson,  they  assured  the  commissioners  that  he  had 
advised  them,  at  the  recent  council  at  Oswego,  to  assume 
and  preserve  a  neutral  position.     He  must  have  spoken  to 

*  Autograph  letter,  August  23,  1775. 


1775.]      CONFERENCE    WITH     THE     INDIANS.         389 

these  friends  of  the  colonies  with  a  "  forked  tongue" — in 
dissimulation — for  he  immediately  led  others,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  Canada,  to  become  allies  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton  and 
Sir  Frederick  Haldimand.  In  the  course  of  his  speech 
Little  Abraham  professed  a  great  attachment  on  the  part 
of  himself  and  his  people  to  Sir  John  Johnson,  who  had 
been  born  among  them,  and  they  desired  that  he  should 
be  unmolested.  They  also  preferred  the  same  request  in 
behalf  of  their  missionary,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stuart,  a  Scottish 
minister,  who  had  been  sent  among  them  by  the  king. 
They  also  requested  that  the  Indian  trade  might  be  re- 
opened with  them,  both  at  Albany  and  Schenectady,  and 
that  somebody  might  be  appointed  to  guard  the  tree  of 
peace  at  Albany,  and  keep  the  council-fire  burning. 

On  the  first  of  September,  the  commissioners,  in  their 
reply  to  Little  Abraham's  speech,  acceded  to  the  principal 
requests  of  the  Indians,  exhibited  toward  them  the  most 
conciliatory  feelings,  and  informed  them  that  General 
Schuyler  and  Mr.  Douw  had  been  appointed  to  keep  the 
council-fire  burning,  and  to  guard  the  tree  of  peace  at 
Albany.  On  the  following  day  another  council  was  held 
by  the  Indians  with  the  Albany  Committee ;  and  that 
afternoon  many  of  the  savages  turned  their  faces  home- 
ward, and  went  over  the  sand  hills  toward  the  setting  sun. 
This  was  the  last  Indian  council  ever  held  in  Albany,  not- 
withstanding Schuyler  and  Douw  were  appointed  to  keep 
the  fire  burning.  The  result  was  satisfactory  to  all  par- 
ties. The  people  of  Tryon  county  were  relieved  of  fears 
of  any  immediate  danger  from  the  Indians,  and  the  labors 
of  the  Albany  Committee  of  Safety  were  directed  to  other 
important  matters. 

The  final  effect  of  the  conference  was  not  important. 
Unfortunately  a  malignant  fever  broke   out  among  the 


390  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

Indians  soon  after  their  return  home,  and  many'  were 
swept  away  by  it.  The  Schoharie  delegates  suffered  most 
severely.  They  had  never  experienced  sickness  like  it ; 
and  believing  it  to  be  a  scourge  used  for  their  punishment 
by  the  Great  Spirit  because  they  had  not  taken  sides  with 
the  King,  the  survivors  followed  their  brethren  who  went 
to  Canada  with  Guy  Johnson  ;  and  in  subsequent  inva- 
sions of  Tyron  county  these  were  among  the  most  relent- 
less and  cruel. 

The  fact  that  Sir  John  Johnson  yet  lingered  in  John- 
son Hall,  at  Johnstown,  with  a  large  body  of  loyalists 
around  him  ready  to  act  at  any  moment  as  he  might 
dictate,  gave  the  republicans  at  Albany  and  in  the  Mohawk 
Valley  much  uneasiness.  They  were  well  assured  that  he 
was  in  secret  communication  with  Governor  Tryon  at  New 
York,  and  they  felt  the  necessity  of  keeping  constant  watch 
over  his  movements.  Already  the  Tories  had  committed 
acts  of  violence  under  the  shadow  of  his  protection  ;  and 
between  the  Whigs  and  Tories  of  the  Mohawk  Valley 
there  was  great  exasperation  of  feeling.  One  of  the  most 
obnoxious  of  the  latter  was  Alexander  White,  sheriff  of 
the  county.  When  the  first  liberty-pole  set  up  in  the 
Mohawk  Valley  was  raised,  at  the  German  Flats,  White, 
at  the  head  of  a  band  of  Loyalists,  cut  it  down.  The 
Dutch  and  German  population  in  that  vicinity  were  mostly 
Whigs,  and  a  decided  majority  of  the  population.  After 
this  outrage,  the  inhabitants  were  regularly  enrolled  by 
the  Tryon  County  Committee,  and  organized  as  militia. 
Sheriff  White  was  deposed,  and  Joshua  Frey  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  place ;  and  the  General  Committee  took 
into  their  hands  all  civil  and  military  jurisdiction  over  a 
large  section  of  the  county. 

Further  obnoxious  acts  of  White  caused  increased  irri- 


1775.]  ARREST     OF     SHERIFF     WHITE.  391 

tation.  On  some  flimsy  pretext,  he  committed  an  active 
Whig,  named  Fonda,  to  the  jail  near  Johnson  Hall. 
About  fifty  Whigs  proceeded  to  the  jail  at  night,  released 
Fonda  by  force,  and  then  proceeded  to  the  residence  of 
White  and  demanded  his  legal  release.  White  fired  upon 
the  Whigs  from  an  upper  window.  The  latter  broke  open 
his  doors,  and  he  would  doubtless  have  been  captured  by 
them,  had  not  the  report  of  a  gun,  fired  at  Johnson  Hall, 
warned  them  that  Sir  John  had  signalled  his  partisans 
and  retainers,  five  hundred  strong,  to  come  to  the  rescue. 
The  Whigs  withdrew,  assembled  at  Caughnawaga,  and 
sent  a  deputation  to  Sir  John  to  demand  a  surrender  of 
White  to  them.  It  was  refused  ;  and  White,  who  had 
been  dismissed  from  office  by  the  people,  was  re-commis- 
sioned by  Governor  Tryon.  The  County  Committee  would 
not  let  him  enter  upon  his  duties  ;  and  the  tide  of  popular 
indignation  soon  ran  so  high  against  him  that  White 
deemed  it  prudent  to  fly  toward  Canada.  He  was  cap- 
tured at  Jessup's  Landing,  on  the  Upper  Hudson,  and  con- 
veyed to  Ticonderoga,  where,  on  the  12th  of  August,  he 
wrote  a  most  humble  note  to  General  Schuyler,  saying  : 

"  With  the  greatest  submission  I  humbly  make  bold  to  trouble  you 
with  this,  hoping  that  you  '11  take  my  case  into  your  tender  considera- 
tion. If  you  doubt  anything  that  I  have  said,  I  would  be  proud  if  you 
would  leave  it  to  the  Committee  of  Albany  to  inquire  into  the  whole 
affair,  and  to  send  up  for  evidences.  I  will  make  oath  before  you  that 
I  came  away  with  no  intention  to  act  against  the  liberties  of  the  coun- 
try."* 

General  Schuyler  sent  White  under  a  guard  to  the 
Committee  of  Albany,  with  a  request  that  they  should 
forward  him  to  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York, 
The  Committee  were  about  to  do  so,  when,  at  the  suit  of 

°  Autograph  letter. 


392  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

Abraham  C.  Cuyler,  the  Mayor  of  Albany,  White  was  re- 
tained. The  mayor  was  a  moderate  loyalist,  and  for  this 
interference  he  received  a  severe  rebuke  from  Schuyler. 
White  was  imprisoned  in  Albany  for  a  while,  and  was 
then  released  on  parole. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  one  of  the  most  active  of  John  - 
son's  partisans,  the  Tryon  County  Committee  resolved  to 
probe  the  intentions  of  the  baronet  to  the  core.  Every 
day  evidence  of  his  malign  influences  became  more  and 
more  visible,  yet  he  had  adroitly  avoided  any  outward 
show  of  hostility  to  the  republican  cause.  His  retainers, 
chiefly  Scotch  Highlanders,  had  become  very  offensive  in 
their  conduct.  They  cast  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
Tryon  County  Committee,  slandered  its  members,  spoke 
openly  for  the  crown  and  against  the  Whigs,  and  at  the 
same  time  were  sharing  the  confidence  and  the  bounty 
of  Sir  John.  On  this  account,  the  Committee,  early 
in  September,  denounced  him  to  the  Provincial  Congress 
of  New  York,  saying — "We  have  great  suspicions,  and 
are  almost  assured,  that  Sir  John  has  a  continued  cor- 
respondence with  Colonel  Guy  Johnson  and  his  party." 
These  suspicions  were  well  founded,  for  it  was  afterward 
ascertained  that  letters  had  passed  between  them,  carried 
by  Indians  in  the  heads  of  their  tomahawks  and  the  orna- 
ments about  their  persons.  The  Tryon  County  Committee, 
of  whom  Nicholas  Herkimer*  was  chairman,  took  some 
action  in  the  matter,  a  little  later  ;  but  the  Provincial 
Congress,  governed  by  a  wise  policy,  advised  them  not  to 
molest  Sir  John  as  long  as  he  should  continue  inactive. 

On  the  26th  of  August,  General  Schuyler  received  in- 
formation from  the  North  that  caused  his  immediate  de- 

*  His  autograph,  before  me,  shows  the  orthography  of  his  name,  from  his 
own  pen,  to  have  been  Herkheimer 


1775.]  RICHARD     MONTGOMERY.  393 

partuve  for  Ticonderoga.     A  dispatch  from  Major  Brown 

to  General  Montgomery  contained  alarming  intelligence  of 

the  activity  of  the  enemy  at  St.  John's.     That  gentleman 

urged  an  immediate  forward  movement  of  the  army,  as 

Carleton  was   almost  ready  to  proceed  up   the   lake   to 

attack  Ticonderoga. 

''  I  am  so  much  of  Brown's  opinion,"  wrote  Montgomery,  "  that  I 
think  it  absolutely  necessary  to  move  down  the  lake  with  the  utmost 
dispatch.  Should  the  enemy  get  their  vessels  into  the  lake,  'tis  over 
with  us  for  this  summer,  for  which  reason  I  have  ordered  two  twelve 
pounders  to  be  gotten  ready  to-morrow,  if  possible,  and  iron-work  to 
make  logs  fast  together  for  a  boom,  and  hope  to  be  able,  if  we  can  get 
down  in  time,  to  prevent  their  entrance  into  the  lake,  by  taking  post 
at  Isle  aux  Noix.  This  intelligence  has  involved  me  in  a  great  dilemma 
— the  moving  without  your  orders  I  don't  like  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  prevention  of  the  enemy  is  of  the  utmost  consequence.  If  I  must 
err  I  wish  to  be  on  the  right  side.  The  express  will  go  night  and  day, 
and  I  hope  you  will  join  us  with  all  expedition.  Let  me  entreat  you 
(if  you  can  possibly)  to  follow  us  in  a  whale-boat,  leaving  somebody  to 
bring  forward  the  troops  and  artillery.  It  will  give  the  men  great  con- 
fidence in  your  spirit  and  activity.  How  necessary  this  confidence  i3 
to  a  general,  I  need  not  tell  you.  *  *  *  I  most  heartily  wish  this  may 
meet  with  your  approbation ;  and  be  assured  I  have  your  honor  and 
reputation  highly  at  heart,  as  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  the  public 
service ;  that  all  my  ambition  is  to  do  my  duty  in  a  subordinate  capacity, 
without  the  least  ungenerous  intention  of  lessening  that  merit  so  justly 
your  due,  and  which  I  omit  no  opportunity  of  setting  in  its  fullest  light.''* 

This  letter,  so  decisive,  frank,  and  generous,  is  a  fair 
index  to  the  character  of  Montgomery,  whom  Schuyler 
dearly  loved  as  a  brother.  He  -was  a  handsome  Irish 
gentleman,  and  had  been  a  soldier  in  service  since  the 
fifteenth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  now  in  his  fortieth 
year.  He  was  near  the  gallant  Wolfe  when  he  fell  upon 
the  Plains  of  Abraham,  in  1759  ;  and  he  afterward  fol- 
lowed General  Lyman  to  the  siege  of  Havanna.  Disap- 
pointed in  his  expectations  of  promotion,  he  sold  his  com- 
mission in  the  army,  emigrated  to  America,  and  settled  on 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Aug..  25,  1H5, 
17* 


394  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  42. 

the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  in  Duchess  county,  where,  in 
1773,  he  married  a  daughter  of  Kobert  Livingston,  and 
sister  of  the  eminent  Chancellor  Livingston.  He  had  just 
commenced  building  a  pleasant  mansion  near  Rhinebeck 
village'''  when  he  was  honored  with  the  commission  of  a 
brigadier  in  the  Continental  army,  and  called  to  the  field. 
It  was  a  hard  trial  for  him  to  leave  his  young  wife,  and  the 
pleasures  and  repose  of  domestic  life  in  the  country,  where 
he  was  surrounded  with  everything  to  make  him  happy  ; 
but  he  sacrificed  all  cheerfully  for  the  public  good,  saying, 
"It  is  an  event  which  must  put  an  end,  for  a  while,  perhaps 
forever,  to  the  quiet  scheme  of  life  I  had  prescribed  for 
myself;  for,  though  entirely  unexpected  and  undesired  by 
me,  the  will  of  an  oppressed  people,  compelled  to  choose 
between  liberty  and  slavery,  must  be  obeyed." 

With  such  sentiments  glowing  in  his  bosom,  Mont- 
gomery hastened  to  join  Schuyler  at  Ticonderoga,  leaving 
in  the  ears  of  his  sorrowing  wife,  when  he  had  imprinted 
upon  her  lips  the  parting  kiss,  at  Saratoga,  the  delightful 
words — "  You  shall  never  blush  for  your  Montgomery." 
She  remembered  with  pride  this  noble  assurance  and  its 
more  noble  vindication,  during  a  widowhood  of  more  than 
half  a  century. 

Schuyler  highly  approved  of  Montgomery's  proposed 
course  in  moving  down,  the  lake,  and  he  made  immediate 
preparations  to  return  to  Ticonderoga,  and  follow  him, 
notwithstanding  the  extreme  illness  of  his  wife,  his  own 
tortures  by  a  rhuematism  almost  as  severe  as  his  hereditary 
gout,  and  menaces  of  a  bilious  fever. 

It  was  on  Saturday  evening  when  Montgomery's  letter 
came  ;  and  almost  at  the  same  moment  a  dispatch  was  re- 
ceived from  General  Washington  at  Cambridge,  informing 

*  Now  (1860),  the  residence  of  Lewis  Livingston,  Esq. 


1775.]  A    NEW    EXPEDITION    PROPOSED.  395 

him  that  several  of  the  St.  Francis  tribe  of  Indians  had 
just  visited  the  camp  and  confirmed  previous  accounts  of 
"  the  good  disposition  of  the  Indian  nations  and  Canadi- 
ans to  the  interest  of  America  ;"  that  British  troops  had 
not  left  Boston  for  Quebec;  and  that  he  had  considered 
the  plan  of  an  expedition  "  to  penetrate  into  Canada  by 
way  of  Kennebec  River,  and  so  to  Quebec  by  a  route 
ninety  miles  below  Montreal/'  to  cooperate  with  the  ex- 
pedition under  Schuyler,  the  final  determination  concerning 
it  being  deferred  until  he  should  hear  from  that  officer. 
He  desired  Schuyler,  if  he  meant  to  proceed  toward  Can- 
ada, to  acquaint  him  speedily  and  particularly  with  all 
information  that  might  be  "  material  in  the  consideration 
of  a  step  of  so  much  importance."  "  Not  a  moment's 
time,"  he  said,  "  is  to  be  lost  in  the  preparation  for  this 
enterprise,  if  the  advices  received  from  you  favor  it.  With 
the  utmost  expedition,  the  season  will  be  considerably  ad- 
vanced, so  that  you  will  dismiss  the  express  as  soon  as 
possible." 

Schuyler  detained  the  express  over  night,  and  dispatched 
him  with  a  reply  to  Washington  early  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing. After  saying  that  he  was  under  the  necessity  of 
leaving  the  Indian  business  at  Albany  in  the  hands  of  his 
colleagues,  and  repairing  immediately  to  Ticonderoga,  and 
giving  his  views  about  the  Canadians  and  the  Indians,  he 
said : 

"  I  thank  your  Excellency  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me  in  com- 
municating to  me  your  plan  for  an  expedition  into  Canada.  The  in- 
closed information  of  Feres,  which  corroborates  not  only  the  informa- 
tion of  Major  Brown  [that  contained  in  the  two  affidavits  of  Duguid  and 
Shatford],  but  every  other  we  have  had,  leaves  not  a  trace  of  doubt  on 
my  mind  as  to  the  propriety  of  going  into  Canada,  and  to  do  it  has 
been  my  determined  resolution  (unless  prevented  by  my  superiors)  for 
some  time ;  and  I  have,  accordingly,  since  my  arrival  here,  requested 
General  Montgomery  to  get  every  thing  in  the  best  readiness  he  could, 


396  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  42. 

for  that  I  would  move  immediately,  weak  and  ill-appointed  as  we  were ; 
and  I  learn  with  pleasure  that  he  has,  since  the  receipt  of  Griffin's  in- 
formation, ordered  the  cannon  to  be  embarked,  and  he  will  probably  be 
off  from  Ticonderoga  so  soon  that  I  shall  only  be  able  to  join  him  at 
Crown  Point  Such  being  my  intentions,  and  such  the  ideas  I  have 
formed  of  the  necessity  of  penetrating  into  Canada  without  delay,  your 
Excellency  will  easily  believe  that  I  felt  happy  to  learn  your  intentions, 
and  only  wished  that  the  thought  had  struck  you  sooner.  The  force  I 
shall  carry  is  far  short  of  what  I  would  wish.  I  believe  it  will  not  ex- 
ceed seventeen  hundred  men,  and  this  will  be  a  body  insufficient -to  at- 
tempt Quebec  with,  (after  leaving  the  necessary  detachments  at  St. 
John's,  Chamblee,  and  Montreal,  should  we  succeed  and  carry  those 
places),  which  must  be  respectable,  to  keep  an  open  and  free  communi- 
cation with  Crown  Point,  etc. 

"  Having  now  given  your  Excellency  the  time,  force,  and  latest  in- 
telligence I  have  had,  together  with  my  opinion  of  the  sentiments  of 
the  Canadians,  I  proceed  to  inform  you  of  the  enemy's  strength.  As  far 
as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  it  is  from  three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four 
hundred  at  St.  John's ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  at  Cham- 
blee ;  about  fifty  at  Montreal ;  and  one  company  at  Quebec.  These 
are  regular  troops,  besides  between  three  hundred  and  five  hundred 
Indians,  Scotchmen,  and  some  few  Canadians,  with  Colonel  Johnson  at 
La  Chine.  Of  this  party  the  Indians  that  are  at  St.  John's  are  a  part. 
Whether  any  ships  of  war  are  at  Quebec  I  can  not  say.  As  none  have 
been  mentioned  to  me,  I  am  rather  inclined  to  believe  there  are  none. 
Should  the  detachment  of  your  body  penetrate  into  Canada,  and  we 
meet  with  success,  Quebec  must  iuevitably  fall  into  our  hands.  Should 
we  meet  with  a  repulse,  which  can  only  happen  from  foul  play  in  the 
Canadians,  I  shall  have  an  opportunity  to  inform  your  party  of  it,  that 
they  may  carry  into  execution  any  orders  you  may  give,  in  case  such 
an  unfortunate  event  should  arise. 

"  Your  Excellency  will  be  pleased  to  be  particular  in  your  orders  to 
the  officers  that  may  command  the  detachment,  that  there  may  be  no 
clashing  should  we  join."* 

General  Schuyler  arrived  at  Ticonderoga  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  30th  of  August,  very  sick  with  a  bilious  fever 
that  had  seized  him  on  the  way.  He  was  too  ill  to  pro- 
ceed in  a  whale-boat,  as  suggested  by  Montgomery  ;  in- 
deed, he  was  too  ill  to  proceed  at  all,  with  any  comfort  or 
safety. 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  Sunday  morning,  6  o'cloek,  Aug.  27,  1775. 


1775.]  EVENTS    ON    LAKE    CHAMPLAIN.  397 

Montgomery,  who  had  been  detained  at  Crown  Point, 
began  to  feel  impatient.  "  A  barbarous  north  wind,"  he 
wrote  on  the  30th,  "  has  kept  me  here.  To-morrow  morn- 
ing I  expect  to  go  away.  I  begin  to  be  uneasy  about  you, 
as  my  express  must  have  reached  you  on  Saturday  night, 
and  it  is  now  Wednesday  night."  As  he  expected,  the 
wind  was  favorable  the  next  morning,  and  the  eager  briga- 
dier* sailed  down  the  lake  with  portions  of  the  regiments 
of  Waterbury,  McDougall,  Parsons,  and  Wooster,  in  all 
about  twelve  hundred  men.  These  were  as  many  as  his 
small  supply  of  boats  could  carry. 

Feeling  better  after  a  night's  rest,  Schujder  gave  orders 
the  next  morning  for  five  hundred  of  Hi n man's  regiment 
and  three  hundred  of  Van  Schaick's,  with  some  artillery, 
to  move  forward  as  quickly  as  possible  ;  also  for  sending 
forward  the  artillery  from  New  York,  under  Lamb,  then 
daily  expected  at  Albany,  with  other  troops,  if  they  should 
arrive,  and  a  supply  of  provisions  and  stores.  Having 
made  these  arrangements,  he  embarked  in  a  whale-boat, 
and  overtook  Montgomery  and  his  troops  at  Isle  la  Motte, 
toward  the  foot  of  Lake  Champlain,  on  the  morning  of 
the  4th  of  September. 

On  his  arrival  at  Ticonderoga,  Schuyler  was  informed 
of  an  occurrence  which  gave  him  much  uneasiness,  and 
strengthened  his  prejudices  against  the  eastern  troops, 
especially  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.  It  was  one  of  those 
cases  of  disobedience  and  independent  action,  with  which 
he  was  exceedingly  annoyed  during  the  whole  campaign, 
and  which,  more  than  any  other  cause,  contributed  to  the 
final  disasters  of  the  expedition.  Captain  Remember 
Baker,  who  had  figured  largely  in  the  troubles  between 
New  York  and  the  people  of  the  New  Hampshire  Grants, 
and  was  a  leader  among  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  had 


398  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

been  for  a  while,  on  his  own  solicitation,  employed  as  a 
scout  by  General  Schuyler,  with  strict  orders  not  to  molest 
either  Canadians  or  Indians.  These  orders  he  violated, 
and  fatal  consequences  ensued.  The  circumstances  of  the 
case  were  thus  related  by  Schuyler  in  a  letter  from  Ticon- 
deroga  to  Messrs.  Douw  and  Francis  : 

"Captain  Baker,  of  the  unenlisted  Green  Mountain  Boys,  lately 
went  into  Canada,  without  my  leave,  with  a  party  of  five  men,  and  dis- 
covering a  boat  manned  by  an  equal  number  of  Indians  (which,  from 
authentic  intelligence  sent  me  from  Canada,  I  learn  were  of  the  Caugh- 
nawaga  tribe),  attempted  to  fire  on  them,  but  his  gun  missing,  and  he, 
putting  his  head  from  behind  the  tree  where  he  stood  in  order  to  ham- 
mer his  flint,  received  a  shot  in  his  forehead,  and  instantly  expired, 
upon  which  his  party  returned  the  fire  and  unfortunately  killed  two  of 
the  Indians.  This  event,  my  Canadian  correspondent  informs  me,  has 
induced  some  of  the  Indians  of  that  tribe  to  join  the  regular  forces  at 
St.  John's.  What  the  consequence  of  Baker's  imprudence  will  be,  is 
hard  to  forsee.  It  behoves  us,  however,  to  attempt  to  eradicate  from 
the  minds  of  the  Indians  any  evil  impressions  they  may  have  imbibed 
from  this  mortifying  circumstance ;  but  what  measures  to  take  to  gain 
so  desirable  an  end  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to  determine.  Perhaps  a  few 
Indians  of  the  Six  Nations  might  be  willing  to  join  the  army  under  my 
command  on  a  peaceable  message  to  those  of  Canada ;  and  as  this  ac- 
count will  most  certainly  reach  the  Six  Nations,  I  believe  it  will  be 
most  prudent  to  prepare  them  for  it  in  such  a  manner  as  you,  who  can 
be  assisted  with  the  best  advice  at  Albany,  shall  determine."* 

The  commissioners,  viewing  the  event  as  one  of  great  im- 
portance, as  it  might  seriously  affect  the  temper  of  the 
Caughnawaga  and  other  Indians*  toward  the  republicans, 
acted  promptly  on  the  suggestions  in  Schuyler's  letter. 
They  immediately  communicated  the  whole  matter  to 
Little  Abraham  and  his  associates,  who  had  not  yet  left 
Albany.  They  listened  with  patience,  and  believed  the 
words  of  the  commissioners,  who  assured  them  that  Baker's 
conduct  was  unauthorized,  and  was  condemned  by  Schuy- 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 


1775.]  THE     CANADIANS     COURTED.  399 

ler  and  all  true  republicans.  They  also  agreed  to  send  a 
deputation  to  their  brethren  in  Canada,  to  explain  the 
matter.  "  Mr.  Fulmer  goes  with  them  as  interpreter,  and 
to  help  them  forward/'  wrote  the  commissioners  to  General 
Schuyler,  "  and  we  have  given  special  directions  that  they 
should  be  accommodated  at  the  several  stages.  You  will, 
sir,  observe  by  their  reply,  that  they  received  the  news 
with  candor,  and  we  do  not  perceive  that  it  has  made  any 
ill  impressions  upon  them.  They  considered  the  fact,  if 
true  (for  they  seemed  much  inclined  to  disbelieve  it),  was 
merely  an  unfortunate  accident."* 

The  anxiety  manifested  by  Schuyler  and  the  commis- 
sioners, because  of  the  acts  of  Baker  and  his  men,  shows 
how  sensible  they  were  of  the  real  weakness  of  the  invad- 
ing army,  and  the  necessity  of  preserving  every  element  of 
strength,  positive  and  negative,  in  the  perilous  campaign 
before  them.  They  could  not  afford  to  lose  the  friendship 
or  even  the  advantages  of  the  neutrality  of  a  single  man 
of  the  forest  or  inhabitant  of  Canada  ;  and  every  possible 
measure  was  employed  to  conciliate  both. 

The  friendship  of  the  Canadians  (or  at  least  their 
neuterality),  as  we  have  seen,  was  considered  of  vast  im- 
portance to  the  republican  cause,  at  that  juncture,  by  the 
Continental  Congress  and  the  military  leaders  ;  and  every 
art  of  kindness  and  conciliation  was  employed  to  make 
them  active  or  passive  friends.  The  Canadians  were  dis 
posed  to  be  friendly  to  "  the  Bostonians,"  as  the  re- 
publicans were  called  in  that  province,  and  many  suffered 
imprisonment  and  other  punishments  because  they  would 
not  take  up  arms  for  the  king.  But  most  of  them  were 
cautious,  and  refrained  from  openly  espousing  the  cause 
of  the  colonists  so  long  as  there  remained  a  doubt  of  the 
*  Autograph  letter,  September  4,  1775. 


400  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt  42. 

ability  of  the  republican  army  to  maiutain  a  successful 
invasion  of  their  province.  Emissaries  were  accordingly 
sent  among  them  to  speak  words  of  encouragement  and 
explain  the  delays  ;  and  on  the  5th  of  September  General 
Schuyler  sent  out  from  Isle  aux  Noix,  which  his  troops 
had  just  taken  possession  of,  the  following  manifesto,  in 
the  French  language,  to  be  distributed  among  the  Cana- 
dians :* 


*  Tt  seems  proper  here  to  notice  some  erroneous  statements  made  in 
Hollister's  History  of  Connecticut  (published  in  two  volumes,  in  1855),  in 
which  the  writer,  in  defending  the  character  of  General  Wooster,  considered 
iv  necessary  to  defame  that  of  General  Schuyler — a  very  illogical  as  well  as 
unfair  method  of  defense.  After  speaking  of  the  march  of  Arnold  through 
the  wilderness  to  Quebec,  he  says:  "Generals  Montgomery  and  Wooster,  in 
the  meantime,  had  been  joined  by  General  Schuyler  at  Isle  la  Motte,  where 
they  moved  on  together  to  Isle  aux  Nbix.  Here  Montgomery  drew  up  a 
Declaration,  which  he  sent  among  the  Canadians  by  Colonel  Allen  and 
Major  Brown,  assuring  them  that  the  army  was  designed  only  against  the 
English  garrisons,  and  was  not  intended  to  interfere  with  the  rights,  liberties, 
or  religion  of  the  people." 

This  declaration  was  drawn  up  by  General  Schuyler  (see  his  letter  to  Wash- 
ington, Correspondence  of  the  Revolution,  i.  40),  and  was  translated  into 
French  by  his  interpreter,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tetard.  Two  copies  of  the  mani- 
festo, before  me,  are  in  the  latter  named  gentleman's  hand- writing. 

As  to  General  Wooster,  he  did  not  join  the  army  under  Schuyler  and 
Montgomery,  until  full  six  weeks  afterward.  He  lingered  about  Harlem 
until  late  in  September,  when  he  received  a  peremptory  command  from  the 
Continental  Congress,  to  proceed  to  Albany,  and  there  await  the  orders  of 
General  Schuyler.  (See  Journals  of  Congress,  Sept.  20,  1775.)  His  reply, 
on  the  23d,  is  dated  at  Harlem.  He  embarked  for  Albany  on  the  28th,  and 
did  not  leave  that  city  until  the  8th  of  October.  On  the  5th  of  that  month 
he  wrote  a  brief  note  to  Schuyler,  from  Albany,  inclosing  a  return  roll  of 
"  six  companies  of  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Connecticut  forces."  On  the  8th 
Walter  Livingston,  in  a  letter  to  Schuyler,  from  Albany,  said :  "  Brigadier- 
General  Wooster  leaves  this  morning  for  Ticonderoga."  He  held  a  court- 
martial  at  Fort  George,  on  the  13th  of  October,  wrote  to  General  Schuyler 
from  Ticonderoga  on  the  19th,  and  joined  the  army  under  Montgomery, 
then  investing  St.  John's,  only  a  few  days  before  the  capitulation  of  that 
place — in  time  to  share  in  the  honors  of  the  victory,  and  the  praises  of  Con- 
gress.    (See  Journals  of  Congress,  Nov.  30,  1775.) 

I  should  not  have  taken  this  special  notice  of  the  errors  here  corrected, 
had  not  the  writer  of  the  history  alluded  to  made  them  a  part  of  a  series  of 


1775.]  REVOLUTIONARY     MANIFESTO.  401 

"  Friends  and  Countrymen  :  The  various  causes  that  have  driven  the 
ancient  British  colonies  in  America  to  arms  have  been  so  fully  set  forth 
in  the  several  petitions,  papers,  letters,  and  declarations,  published  by 
the  grand  Congress,  that  our  Canadian  brethren,  at  the  extirpation  of 
whose  liberty,  as  well  as  ours,  the  various  schemes  of  a  cruel  ministry 
are  directly  tending,  can  not  fail  of  being  informed.  And  we  can  not 
doubt  that  you  are  pleased  that  the  grand  Congress  have  ordered  an 
army  into  Canada  to  expel  from  thence,  if  possible,  those  British  troops 
who,  now  acting  under  the  orders  of  a  despotic  ministry,  would  wish  to 
enslave  their  countrymen.  This  measure,  necessary  as  it  is,  the  Con- 
gress would  not  have  entered  on  but  in  the  fullest  confidence  that  it 
would  be  perfectly  agreeable  to  you,  for,  judging  of  your  feelings  by 
their  own,  they  could  not  conceive  that  any  thing  but  the  force  of  ne- 
cessity would  induce  you  tamely  to  bear  the  insult  and  ignominy  that 
are  daily  imposed  on  you,  or  that  you  could  calmly  sit  by  and  see  those 
chains  forging  which  are  intended  to  bind  you,  your  posterity  and  ours, 
in  one  common  and  eternal  slavery.  To  secure  you  and  ourselves  from 
such  a  dreadful  bondage ;  to  prevent  the  effects  that  might  follow  from 
the  ministerial  troops  remaining  in  Canada ;  to  restore  to  you  those 
rights  which  every  subject  of  the  British  empire,  from  the  highest  to 
the  very  lowest  order,  whatever  his  religious  sentiments  may  be,  is  en- 
titled to,  are  the  only  views  of  the  Congress.  You  will  readily  believe 
me,  when  I  say  that  the  Congress  have  given  me  the  most  positive 
orders  to  cherish  every  Canadian  and  every  friend  to  the  cause  of  liberty, 
and  sacredly  to  guard  their  property;  and  such  is  the  confidence  I  have 
in  the  good  disposition  of  my  army  that  I  do  not  believe  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  punish  a  single  offense  committed  against  you. 

"  A  treaty  of  friendship  has  just  been  concluded  with  the  Six  Nations 
at  Albany,  and  I  am  furnished  with  an  ample  present  for  their  Caughna- 
waga  brethren  and  other  Canadian  tribes.  If  any  of  them  have  lost 
their  lives  it  was  done  contrary  to  my  orders,  and  by  scoundrels  ill- 
affected  to  our  glorious  cause.  I  shall  take  great  pleasure  in  burying 
the  dead  and  wiping  away  the  tears  of  their  surviving  relations,  which 
you  will  communicate  to  them."* 

Well  supplied  with  copies  of  this  manifesto,  Colonel 
Ethan  Allen  and  Major  Brown,  with  interpreters,  started 

charges  against  General  Schuyler  in  succeeding  pages  of  his  work,  which  are 
not  only  ungenerous  in  the  extreme,  but  utterly  unjust,  as  I  shall  attempt  to 
show  in  future  pages,  when  considering  the  difficulties  that  occurred  between 
Schuyler  and  Wooster,  both  patriots  of  purest  stamp  but  different  in  temper, 
views,  and  position.  Wooster  at  that  time  was  old  and  infirm. 
*  This  was  in  allusion  to  those  killed  by  Captain  Baker's  men. 


402  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 


for  Canada  the  next  morning,  to  confer  with  Colonel 
James  Livingston,  then  residing  near  Chamblee,  to  recon- 
noiter  the  country  between  the  Sorel  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence, to  present  the  friendly  address  to  the  people,  and 
to  ascertain  their  sentiments.  This  was  a  delicate  and 
somewhat  perilous  mission,  for  the  British  troops,  alarmed 
by  the  presence  of  the  invaders,  were  extremely  vigilant, 
and  the  Canadians,  who  were  timid  and  fickle,  were  some- 
times treacherous. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

The  army  under  Schuyler  took  possession  of  the  Isle 
aux  Noix,  twelve  miles  south  of  St  John's,  on  the  evening 
of  the  4th  of  September,  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  the 
General  at  Isle  la  Motte.  On  the  following  day  he  drew 
up  the  declaration  already  mentioned,  and  sent  Allen  and 
Brown  among  the  Canadians  with  it,  and  then  prepared 
to  push  on  to  St.  John's,  notwithstanding  his  effective 
force  did  not  exceed  one  thousand  men.  With  these  he 
embarked  early  on  the  morning  of  the  6th,  leaving  the 
baggage  and  provisions,  except  a  supply  for  four  days,  at 
the  Isle  aux  Noix.  They  proceeded  to  within  two  miles  of 
St.  John's  without  molestation,  when  the  garrison  opened 
a  harmless  cannonade  upon  them  from  the  fort.  They 
pushed  forward  half  a  mile  nearer  the  post,  and  landed 
in  a  deep,  close  swamp,  which  extended  very  nearly  to  the 
fort.  There  they  landed  and  marched  in  the  best  order 
possible  in  such  a  tangled  way,  with  a  detachment  from 
"Waterbury's  Connecticut  troops,  under  Major  Hobby,  as 
a  flank  for  the  left  wing,  that  moved  a  little  in  advance  of 
the  main  body.  Hobby  was  attacked  when  crossing  a  deep, 
muddy  brook,  by  a  party  of  Indians  and  some  Tories,  who 
delivered  a  heavy  fire  ;  but  the  loss  on  both  sides  was  trifl- 
ing. The  republicans  lost  only  a  sergeant,  corporal,  and 
three  privates  killed,  and  one  missing,  and  eight  privates 
wounded,  of  whom  three  died  the  ensuing  night.     Hobby 


404  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

was  shot  through  the  thigh,  Captain  Mead  through  the 
shoulder,  and  Lieutenant  Brown  in  the  hand,  but  all 
soon  recovered  of  their  wounds.  This  was  the  first  blood 
shed  in  the  actual  invasion  of  Canada.  The  assailants 
were  driven  back,  and  the  Americans,  taught  by  the  event 
to  be  more  cautious,  concentrated  their  forces  on  the  ap- 
proach of  night,  and  cast  up  an  intrenchment  for  their 
defense,  in  the  event  of  a  sudden  attack. 

In  the  evening,  a  gentleman  living  in  the  neighborhood 
entered  General  Schuyler's  tent  very  cautiously,  and  gave 
him  information  that  caused  him  to  fall  back  to  the  Isle 
aux  Noix.  He  informed  Schuyler  that  there  were  no  reg- 
ular troops  in  Canada,  except  the  twenty-sixth  regiment, 
under  the  command  of  General  Kichard  Prescott,  most 
of  whom  were  at  St.  John's  and  Chamblee,  the  latter  a 
fort,  twelve  miles  further  down  the  Sorel  than  the  former. 
He  said  there  were  one  hundred  Indians  at  St.  John's, 
and  quite  a  large  body  of  savages  were  with  Colonel  Guy 
Johnson  at  Montreal  ;  that  the  works  at  St.  John's  were 
complete  and  strong,  and  plentifully  furnished  with  can- 
non and  stores  ;  that  one  armed  vessel,  pierced  for  six- 
teen guns,  was  launched,  and  nearly  ready  to  sail ;  and 
that  he  believed  not  one  Canadian  would  join  the  republi- 
cans, while  all  would  remain  strictly  neutral.  He  assured 
the  general  that  they  would  be  pleased  to  have  a  republi 
can  army  penetrate  their  province,  provided  the  safety  of 
their  persons  and  property  might  be  insured,  and  they 
were  paid  in  gold  and  silver  for  all  they  might  furnish  the 
troops ;  that  he  thought  it  imprudent  to  attack  St.  John's 
at  that  time,  and  advised  Schuyler  to  send  some  parties 
among  the  inhabitants,  while  the  remainder  of  the  army 
should  draw  back  to  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  from  whence  he 
might  have  intercourse  with  Laprairie  and  Montreal. 


1775.]  TROOPS    AT    ISLE     AUX    NOIX.  405 

Much  of  this  information  proved  to  be  deceptive,  but 
it  so  impressed  Schuyler  as  truth  that  he  called  a  Council 
of  War  early  on  the  morning  of  the  7th,  to  whom  he  com- 
municated it.0  The  result  was,  that  considering  the  for- 
ward state  of  the  armed  vessel  at  St.  John's,  it  was  "  un- 
animously agreed  to  be  indispensably  necessary  to  take 
measures  for  preventing  her  entrance  into  the  lake.  It 
was  the  opinion  of  the  council  that  this  could  only  be 
effected  at  the  Isle  anx  Noix.  The  weak  state  of  the 
artillery  affording  no  prospect  of  silencing  the  enemy's  guns 
under  the  protection  of  which  they  were  rigging  her,  it  was 
therefore  resolved  to  return,  without  delay,  to  the  Isle 
aux  Noix,  throw  a  boom  across  the  channel,  erect  the 
proper  works  for  its  defense,  then  wait  for  certain  intelli- 
gence touching  the  intentions  of  the  Canadians,  and  when 
reinforced,  send  a  strong  detachment  into  the  country  by 
land,  should  the  Canadians  favor  such  a  design. "f 

When  this  course  was  determined  on,  Schuyler  gave 
immediate  orders  for  the  embarkation  of  the  troops  "with- 
out hurry  and  without  noise  ;"  and  they  returned  to  the 
Isle  aux  Noix  in  the  same  order  as  they  left  it — the  New 
York  troops  in  front,  the  Connecticut  troops  next,  and  the 
row-galleys  in  the  rear  of  all. 

On  arriving  at  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  General  Schuyler 

sent  a  detailed  account  of  operations  in  that  quarter  to  the 

President  of  Congress,  in  which  he  observed  : 

"  I  can  not  estimate  the  obligations  I  lie  under  to  General  Mont- 
gomery for  the  many  important  services  he  has  done,  and  daily  does,  in- 
which  he  has  had  little  assistance  from  me,  as  I  have  not  enjoyed  a 
moment's  health  since  I  left  Fort  George.  I  am  now  so  low  as  not  to 
be  able  to  hold  the  pen.     Should  we  not  be  able  to  do  any  thing  de- 

°  The  council  was  composed  of  Generals  Schuyler  and  Montgomery,  Colo- 
nel Waterbury  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Whiting  of  the  Fifth  Connecticut  Regi- 
ment, and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ritzema  of  the  First  New  York  Regiment 

\  Schuyler's  Orderly  Book. 


406  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

cisively  in  Canada  I  shall  judge  it  best  to  move  from  this,  which  is  a 
very  wet  and  unhealthy  part  of  the  country,  unless  I  receive  your 
orders  to  the  contrary."* 

This  letter,  which  reached  Philadelphia  on  the  18th, 
occasioned  much  uneasiness  in  Congress,  for  it  was  ap- 
parent that  the  success  of  the  expedition  into  Canada 
was  most  to  be  desired  of  all  the  operations  of  the  cam- 
paign. All  other  business  was  suspended  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  its  contents,  and  after  an  animated  debate, 
Messrs.  Deane,  Kutledge,  Chase,  and  Jay,  were  appointed 
a  committee  to  draft  a  letter  to  General  Schuyler  on  the 
subject.  On  the  20th  it  was  addressed  to  him  by  the 
President  of  Congress,  who  said  : 

"  I  am  directed  by  the  Congress  to  express  their  approbation  of 
your  conduct,  as  stated  in  your  letter.  Your  taking  possession  of  the 
Isle  aux  Noix,  and  the  proposed  measures  for  preventing  the  enemy's 
vessels  from  entering  the  lake,  appear  to  them  highly  expedient  and 
necessary.  The  Congress  have  such  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  that 
post  as  to  wish  it  may  not  be  abandoned  without  the  most  mature  con- 
sideration, or  the  most  pressing  necessity.  They  view  the  expedition 
intrusted  to  your  care  as  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  the  general 
cause ;  and  as  they  clearly  forsee  that  its  influence,  whether  success- 
ful or  otherwise,  will  be  great  and  extensive,  they  are  desirous  that 
nothing  necessary  to  give  it  a  fortunate  issue,  may  be  omitted.  They 
have  ordered  all  the  forces  raised  in  New  York  immediately  to  join 
you  ;  and  those  under  General  Wooster  to  march  immediately  to 
Albany;  from  whence,  if  you  should  think  such  reinforcement  neces- 
sary, you  will  be  pleased  to  order  them.  Should  you  stand  in  need  of 
further  reinforcements,  the  Congress  desire  you  will  apply  to  General 
Washington. 

"  The  Congress  repose  the  highest  confidence  in  the  abilities,  the 
zeal,  and  the  alacrity  of  the  officers  and  forces  employed  on  this  ex- 
pedition. They  are  determined  to  spare  neither  men  nor  money ;  and 
should  the  Canadians  remain  neuter,  flatter  themselves  that  the  enter- 
prise will  be  crowned  with  success,  notwithstanding  the  great  and 
various  difficulties  to  which  it  has  been  and  still  is  exposed. 

"  It  is  with  great  concern  that  the  Congress  hear  of  your  indisposi- 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 


1775.1  SICKNESS     IN    CAMP.  407 

tion.  They  desire  me  to  assure  you  of  their  warmest  wishes  for  your 
recovery,  and  to  request  that,  in  discharging  the  duties  of  your  station, 
you  will  not  omit  the  attention  due  to  the  reestablishment  of  your 
health." 

Several  members  of  the  Congress  wrote  to  Schuyler 
privately,  urging  him  to  be  careful  of  his  health,  for  they 
felt  assured  that  the  success  of  the  campaign  depended 
chiefly  upon  him. 

"  It  gives  me  great  concern,"  wrote  Thomas  Lynch,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, "  to  find  your  health  so  much  injured.  Don't  you  know  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  a  general  to  take  the  utmost  care  to  bring  the  army  into 
the  field  in  good  health?  If  so,  how  much  care  is  to  be  taken  of  the 
head  ?  You  must  spare  your  body,  and  not  expect  it  can  possibly  keep 
pace  with  such  a  spirit.  If  you  push  it  too  far,  it  will  leave  you  and 
us  in  the  lurch  ;  in  short,  you  will  kill  our  general. 

"  I  see  the  difficulties  with  which  you  are  surrounded.  These  can 
can  only  add  glory  to  the  success  of  your  enterprise.  The  Congress 
is  awake  at  last,  and  feel  the  importance  of  your  expedition — that 
every  thing  depends  on  its  success — and  I  think  you  may  depend  on 
every  support  that  is  consistent  with  the  delay  that  attends  popular  as- 
semblies." 

After  returning  to  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  General  Schuy- 
ler made  strenuous  efforts  to  hasten  forward  reinforcements. 
He  commenced  some  fortifications  there  preparatory  to  the 
reception  of  his  artillery,  then  hourly  expected,  and  also 
the  construction  of  a  boom  to  obstruct  the  channel.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  days  his  little  army  was  swelled  to 
more  than  seventeen  hundred  men. 

But  there  was  a  foe  at  work  in  the  camp  more  insidi- 
ous and  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  enemy  in  the  field. 
Malaria  commenced  its  destructive  ravages.  The  Isle  aux 
Noix  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  low,  marshy  country ; 
and  before  the  troops  had  been  there  a  week  more  than 
six  hundred  of  them  were  on  the  sick  list.  And  the  un- 
wholsomeness   of  the  air  so  greatly  aggravated  General 


408  PHILIP     SCHUTLEB.  |>Et.  42. 

Schuyler's  disorders  that  he  was  soon  brought  to  the 
borders  of  the  grave.  Bilious  fever  and  severe  rheumatism 
attacked  him  alternately,  and  he  was  confined  to  his  bed 
most  of  the  time,  with  great  suffering  of  mind  and  body. 
Yet  he  persevered  in  duty,  and  did  not  yield  until  menaced 
with  speedy  death. 

From  Livingston,  Allen,  and  Brown,  Schuyler  re- 
ceived such  intelligence  concerning  affairs  in  Canada,  and 
the  temper  of  the  people,  that  on  the  10th  he  detached 
eight  hundred  men,  under  General  Montgomery,  in  the 
direction  of  St.  John's.  These  consisted  of  portions  of 
Hinman's,  Waterbury's,  McDougall's  ,and  Van  Schaick's 
regiments.  They  landed  about  three  miles  from  St.  John's, 
at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  near  the  place  where  the  re- 
publicans had  thrown  up  breast-works  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  6th.  From  that  point  Montgomery  sent  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Kitzema  of  the  New  Yorkers,  with  five  hundred 
men,  to  take  post  on  the  road  leading  from  St.  John's  to 
Laprairie,  in  order  to  cut  off  the  communication  between 
St.  John's  and  the  country,  according  to  General  Schuy- 
ler's orders  to  that  officer,  issued  before  his  departure  from 
the  Isle  aux  Noix.  They  had  not  proceeded  far  when  a 
false  alarm  created  a  panic,  and  the  troops  fled  back  in 
confusion,  some  of  them  turning  into  the  woods  to  avoid 
the  officers  at  the  breast-work,  who,  they  apprehended, 
would  again  command  them  to  move  forward.  When 
mustered,  in  order  to  advance  again,  Ritzema  had  only 
about  fifty  men.  These  were  soon  increased  to  two  hun- 
dred, but  the  day  was  so  far  spent  that  it  was  determined 
to  delay  further  attempts  until  morning. 

Early  the  next  morning,  at  the  request  of  several 
officers,  Montgomery  called  a  Council  of  War,  composed 
of  himself,  Colonel  Waterbury,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Eitze- 


1775.]  COWARDLY     CONDUCT.  409 

ma,  Majors  Elmore,  Zedwitz,  and  Dimon,  and  Captains  Starr, 
Smith,  Bearsley,  Reed,  Brown,  Weissenfeldts,  Willett, 
Mott,  Lyon,  Yates,  McCracken,  and  Livingston.  It  was 
unanimously  determined  to  proceed,  and  the  consent  of 
the  troops  was  obtained  by  a  vote — a  mode  of  proceeding 
so  unmilitary  and  detrimental  to  all  authority,  that  Mont- 
gomery consented  to  it  only  on  the  compulsion  imposed  by 
the  exigencies  of  the  case.  Just  as  the  detachment  was 
about  to  march,  intelligence  came  that  the  enemy's  armed 
vessel  was  lying  only  half  a  mile  from  them,  and  it  was 
thought  prudent  to  reembark,  and  return  to  the  Isle  aux 
Noix.  While  this  matter  was  under  consideration,  half 
the  detachments  from  the  New  England  regiments  em- 
barked without  orders. 

On  the  way  back  to  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  the  general 
ordered  the  boats  to  stop  at  a  point  eight  miles  from  St. 
John's,  to  try  the  temper  of  the  troops  by  asking  them  to 
march  from  that  point  against  the  fort.  The  proposition 
was  voted  down.  "When  the  halt,  was  made  at  the 
point/'  says  the  narrator  from  whose  notes  these  facts 
have  been  drawn,  "  the  general  and  captains,  with  a  few 
guards,  disembarked  ;  and  on  a  cry  by  one  of  the  men 
that  boats  were  coming !  the  troops  were  with  difficulty 
restrained  from  pushing  off  without  their  officers  !"* 

Montgomery  was  mortified  by  this  bad  conduct  of 
the  soldiers,  and  foresaw  nothing  but  disaster  before 
him,  if  such  were  the  men  on  whom  he  was  to  depend 
for  support  in  the  invasion  of  Canada.  Some  persons 
at  the  time  had  strong  suspicions  that  Eitzema  was 
either  a  coward  or  a  traitor.  He  deserted  to  the  enemy 
within  a  year  from  that  time ;  and  Major  Zedwitz  was 

*  MS.  Narrative  by  General  Montgomery. 
18 


410  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

cashiered  for  an  alleged  attempt  at  a  treasonable  corre- 
spondence with  Governor  Tryon. 

Schuyler  and  Montgomery  now  arranged  a  plan  for  an 
immediate  attack  upon  St.  John's.  The  troops  under 
Ritzema,  who  had  returned  to  duty,  seemed  heartily 
ashamed  of  their  "  unbecoming  behavior,"  and  Mont- 
gomery considered  their  sensibility  to  ridicule  as  a  promise 
of  better  conduct  in  the  future.  Schuyler  accordingly 
issued  orders  on  the  13th  for  an  embarkation  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  of  the  artillery  that  had  arrived,  and  of  the 
whole  army  on  the  15th.  He  was  then  too  ill  to  leave  his 
bed,  but  on  the  14th  he  felt  so  much  better  that  he  had 
hopes  of  moving  with  the  troops.  "  But  by  ten  o'clock  at 
night,"  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Washington,  "  my  disorder 
re-attacked  me  with  redoubled  violence,  and  every  fair  pros- 
pect of  a  speedy  recovery  vanished."  Yet  he  lingered  in 
that  unhealthy  spot  a  day  or  two  longer,  still  hoping 
to  move  with  the  army.  At  last  he  was  compelled  to 
transfer  the  general  command  to  Montgomery,  and  take 
passage  in  a  covered  boat  for  Ticonderoga,  where  he  arrived 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  18th,  feeling  some- 
what invigorated.  "  I  find  myself  much  better,"  he  wrote 
to  Washington,  on  the  20th,  "  as  the  fever  has  left  me, 
and  hope  soon  to  return  where  I  ought  and  wish  to  be, 
unless  a  barbarous  relapse  should  dash  the  cup  of  hope 
from  my  lips." 

An  hour  after  Schuyler  left  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  he 
met  Colonel  Seth  Warner,  with  one  hundred  and  seventy 
Green  Mountain  Boys,  in  boats,  on  their  way  to  the  camp, 
"being  the  first,"  the  general  said,  "that  appeared  of 
that  boasted  corps."  Part  of  the  corps  had  already  mu- 
tinied and  deserted,  and  some  had  been  left  at  Crown 
Point.    Captain  Allen's  company  of  the  same  corps,  "  every 


1175.]  DISEASE     AND     VEXATION.  411 

man  of  which  was  raised  in  Connecticut/'  arrived  at  Ti- 
conderoga  on  the  19th  ;  Colonel  Bedell's  New  Hampshire 
troops  had  arrived  on  the  16th  ;  Captain  Henry  B.  Liv- 
ingston's corps  had  already  passed  down  the  lake  ;  and 
Captain  Lamb,  with  his  artillery,  was  expected  to  join 
Montgomery  on  the  20th.  The  last-mentioned  corps  was 
of  great  importance,  for  there  were  none  in  the  invading 
army  that  knew  any  thing  about  the  proper  management 
of  cannon.  Some  troops  yet  remained  at  Ticonderoga, 
and  others  had  just  arrived.  Schuyler  at  once  issued 
orders  for  the  most  of  these  to  embark  immediately  for 
Montgomery's  army,  and  by  this  means  a  reenfor cement 
of  several  hundred  men  was  given  to  it. 

Schuyler  found  the  promises  of  convalescence  fallacious. 
Fever  and  rheumatism  had  reduced  him  to  a  skeleton,  and 
he  found  no  relief  at  Ticonderoga.  He  was  also  constantly 
annoyed  by  the  bad  conduct  of  troops,  and  in  his  vexation 
of  mind  and  body,  he  wrote  as  follows  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  on  the  25th  of  September  : 

"  The  vexation  of  spirit  under  which  I  labor,  that  a  barbarous  com- 
plication of  disorders  should  prevent  me  from  reaping  those  laurels  for 
which  I  have  so  unweariedly  wrought,  since  I  was  honored  with  this 
command ;  the  anxiety  of  mind  I  have  suffered  since  my  arrival  here 
lest  the  army  should  starve,  occasioned  by  a  scandalous  want  of  subor- 
dination and  inattention  to  my  orders  in  some  of  the  officers  that  I  left 
to  command  at  the  different  posts;  the  vast  variety  of  disagreeable  and 
vexatious  incidents  that  almost  every  hour  arise,  in  some  department  or 
other,  not  only  retard  my  cure,  but  have  put  me  considerably  back  for 
some  days  past.  If  Job  had  been  a  general,  in  my  situation,  his  mem- 
ory had  not  been  so  famous  for  patience.  But  the  glorious  end  we 
have  in  view,  and  which  I  have  a  confident  hope  will  be  attained,  will 
atone  for  all."* 

Two  days  after  writing  this  letter  he  received  the  one 
from  the  President  of  Congress,  already  given,  approving 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 


412  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

of  his  conduct,  and  urging  him  to  take  good  care  of  his 
health.  This,  and  the  private  letters  sent  from  Phila- 
delphia, soothed  his  spirit. 

"  The  honorable  Congress  have  my  warmest  acknowledgments,"  he 
said  in  reply,  "  and  they  may  rest  assured  that  nothing  on  my  part  shall 
be  wanting  to  insure  that  success  they  so  earnestly  wish ;  and  I  hope 
soon  to  congratulate  them  on  it.  Whilst  I  deprecate  the  untimely  mis- 
fortune which  prevents  me  from  sharing  in  the  immediate  glory,  it  was 
perhaps  inflicted  in  such  a  critical  hour  to  serve  the  common  cause,  for 
if  I  had  not  arrived  here  on  the  very  day  I  did,  as  sure  as  God  lives 
the  army  would  have  starved." 

It  was,  indeed,  fortunate  for  the  army  that  Schuyler 
returned  to  Ticonderoga  at  that  time.  He  found  every- 
thing connected  with  the  forwarding  of  provisions  in  the 
greatest  disorder.  Neglect,  dishonesty,  peculation — every 
thing  calculated  to  rob  the  army  of  necessary  stores  were 
rife,  and  provisions  on  the  way  were  detained  by  neglect 
or  indolence,  in  a  most  shameful  manner.  "  The  letters  I 
have  been  obliged  to  write  to  several  officers/'  he  said  to 
the  Congress,  "  I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  couch- 
ing in  terms  that  I  should  be  ashamed  of,  did  not  necessity 
apologise  for  me."  He  then  gave  in  detail  illustrations  of 
the  neglect,  and  added,  "the  horrid  anxiety  I  suffered 
from  this  dreadful  situation  of  the  army  is  now  abated, 
and  I  hope  for  so  sufficient  a  restoration  as  to  enable  me 
to  join  soon." 

Less  cautious  than  Schuyler,  Montgomery  left  the  Isle 
aux  Noix  on  the  day  when  the  invalid  commanding  gen- 
eral departed  for  Ticonderoga,  and  advanced  upon  St. 
John's  with  about  one  thousand  men.  Major  Brown  had 
been  sent  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  continental  troops 
and  thirty  Canadian  recruits  to  reconnoiter  the  vicinity 
of  Chamblee  and  make  friends  of  the  inhabitants  ;  Major 
James  Livingston  had  gone  farther  down  the  river  and 


1775.]  TROOPS     BEFORE     ST.     JOHN'S.  413 

was  collecting  the  inhabitants  under  his  standard  ;  and 
Colonel  Ethan  Allen  was  near  the  St.  Lawrence  again, 
"  preaching  politics  "  and  beating  up  for  recruits.  Alarmed 
by  the  temper  shown  by  the  inhabitants,  and  the  menaces 
of  the  invading  republicans,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  had  issued 
a  proclamation  in  French,  setting  forth  the  disloyalty  of 
the  king's  subjects,  and  offering  pardon  to  all  who  should, 
within  a  given  time,  return  to  their  allegiance  and  join  the 
standard  of  the  crown.  But  his  proclamation,  and  the 
efforts  of  the  French  clergy  and  nobility,  were  of  little 
avail.  Hardly  one  hundred  Canadians  were  induced  to 
join  the  garrison  at  St.  John's,  and  few  Indians  had  taken 
up  the  hatchet  for  the  king.  Carleton,  in  despair,  wrote 
to  General  Gage  at  Boston,  "  I  had  hopes  of  holding  out 
for  this  year,  had  the  savages  remained  firm ;  but  now  we 
are  on  the  eve  of  being  overrun  and  subdued." 

Montgomery  arrived  at  his  old  encampment  near  St. 
John's  on  the  evening  of  the  17th  of  September,  and  made 
a  forward  movement  early  the  next  morning. 

"I  take  the  opportunity  of  Fulraer's  return  with  the  Oneidas," 
Montgomery  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  to  acquaint  you  of  our  arrival  here 
on  the  17th,  in  the  evening.  Yesterday  morning  I  marched,  with  five 
hundred  men,  to  the  north  side  of  St.  John's,  where  we  found  a  party 
of  the  king's  troops,  with  field-pieces.  This  party  had  beaten  off  Major 
Brown  a  few  hours  before,  who  had  imprudently  thrown  himself  in 
their  way,  depending  on  our  more  early  arrival,  which,  through  the 
dilatoriness  of  our  young  troops,  could  not  be  sooner  effected.  The 
enemy,  after  an  ill-directed  fire  for  some  minutes,  retired  with  precipi- 
tation, and  lucky  for  them  they  did,  for  had  we  known  their  situation 
(which  the  thickness  of  the  woods  prevented  our  finding  out  till  it  was 
too  late)  there  Would  not  a  man  of  them  have  returned.  The  old  story 
of  treachery  spread  among  the  men  as  soon  as  we  saw  the  enemy.  We 
were  trepanned — drawn  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  and  what  not.  The 
Woodsmen*  were  not  so  expert  at  firing  as  I  expected,  and  too  many 

*  The  Green  Mountain  Boys  and  New  Hampshire  troops. 


414  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt,  42. 

of  them  hung  back.     Had  we  kept  silence  at  first,  before  we  were  dis- 
covered, we  should  have  gotten  a  field-piece  or  two."* 

The  insubordination  which  had  annoyed  Schuyler  and 
Montgomery  so  continually  had  performed  its  disastrous 
work,  and  prevented  a  small  but  very  important  victory. 
Caution,  secresy,  and  concert  of  action  were  out  of  the 
question  ;  and  the  leader,  utterly  powerless  to  command 
them,  yielded  with  as  much  patience  as  his  fiery  spirit 
could  maintain.  He  pushed  on  a  little  further  to  the 
northwest,  and  at  the  junction  of  the  roads  leading  respect- 
ively from  St.  John's  to  Longeuii  and  Chamblee,  he  formed 
an  entrenched  camp  of  three  hundred  men  to  cut  off  the 
supplies  for  the  enemy  sent  from  the  interior.  Having 
accomplished  this  important  work,  he  hastened  back  to 
the  camp  to  bring  his  artillery  up  to  bear  upon  the  walls 
of  the  fort.  These  were  too  light  to  perform  very  essential 
service.  Captain  Lamb,  with  the  heavier  cannon  had  not 
yet  arrived. 

Montgomery  now  commenced  the  investment  of  Fort 
St.  John.  His  preparations  were  meager,  for  his  artillery 
was  light,  his  mortars  defective,  his  ammunition  scarce, 
and  his  gunners  unpracticed  in  their  duties.  Yet  he 
worked  on  cheerfully.  Schuyler,  tireless  in  his  efforts, 
was  sending  on  additions  to  his  forces  and  supplies  of 
food,  as  full  and  as  fast  as  circumstances  would  allow ; 
and  Montgomery  was  soon  constrained,  in  gratitude,  to 
exclaim,  in  a  letter  to  his  chief,  "  What  does  not  this 
army  owe  to  your  patriotism  and  indefatigable  labors  I" 

A  battery  was  completed  on  the  21st,  on  a  point  of 
land  that  commanded  the  fort  and  the  vessels  in  the  river, 
and  another  was  cast  up  on  the  east  side  of  the  stream, 
some  distance  below  the  fort.     For  a  week  the  seige  went 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Sept.  19,  1775. 


1115.]  INSUBORDINATION.  415 

slowly  on.  Disease,  frightful  in  its  effects,  broke  out 
among  the  soldiers.  The  ground  was  low  and  swampy, 
and  the  trees,  small  and  thickly  planted,  completely  shut 
out  the  sun.  Deadly  malaria  arose  from  the  dank  soil, 
and  Montgomery  perceived  that  the  decimation  of  his  army 
would  speedily  take  place,  if  he  should  remain  there. 

At  this  juncture  Captain  Lamb  arrived  with  his  heavy 
ordnance,  and  on  the  26th  of  September,  he  bedded  a  thir- 
teen inch  mortar  near  the  battery,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  and  hurled  many  shot  and  shell  against  the  enemy. 
But  the  distance  from  the  fort  was  too  great  to  allow  much 
execution  from  the  bombardment,  and  Montgomery  re- 
solved to  abandon  the  batteries  and  take  a  new  position 
nearer  the  fort,  where  the  ground  was  firm  and  the  water 
wholesome.  But  the  troops,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  independence,  and  judging  for  themselves  that 
an  attack  would  be  unsuccessful,  refused  to  acquiesce  in 
the  plan  of  their  leader.  Insubordination  was  at  once 
rampant,  and  the  general  was  informed  that  most  of  the 
troops  would  leave  him  should  he  attempt  coercion  by 
virtue  of  his  authority. 

Unable  either  to  punish  them  for  their  mutiny,  or 
to  convince  them  of  their  error,  Montgomery  yielded  so  far 
as  to  call  a  Council  of  War.  It  resulted,  as  was  expected, 
in  a  decision  against  his  plan.  This  triumph  of  insubordi- 
nation made  the  recusants  more  bold.  They  set  all  law 
at  defiance,  and  alarming  disorder  pervaded  the  American 
camp.  At  length  a  better  spirit  prevailed.  Montgomery 
controlled  his  feelings,  and  kept  his  impulses  under  the 
restraints  of  his  judgment.  He  was  eloquent  in  speech 
and  possessed  most  winning  ways.  The  mutinous  knew 
him  to  be  brave  and  firm ;  and  these  faculties  and  attri- 
butes, working  in  harmony,  accomplished  what  official 


416  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et  42. 

power  had  failed  to  achieve.  His  plans  were  finally  adopted ; 
and  on  the  7th  of  October  the  camp  was  moved  to  higher 
ground,  northwest  of  the  fort,  where  intrenchments  were 
thrown  up,  and  the  investment  was  made  complete.  But 
for  want  of  siege  guns  the  republicans  were  unable  to 
breach  the  walls  of  the  fort,  or  do  much  damage  to  the 
out-works  of  the  enemy.  * 

*  Autograph  letter,  Sept.  24,  1175. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

While  the  siege  of  St.  John's  was  very  slowly  progress- 
ing, because  of  a  want  of  proper  supplies,  a  defiant,  med- 
dling spirit  of  insubordination,  general  inefficiency  in  the 
service,  and  the  ambition  of  inferior  leaders  who  had 
been  sent  among  the  Canadians  to  acquire  personal  re- 
nown by  some  bold  stroke  for  the  common  cause,  cast  seri- 
ous obstacles  in  the  way,  and  lost  to  the  republicans  not 
only  precious  time,  but  the  most  cordial,  active,  and  gen- 
eral support  of  the  Canadians. 

Colonel  Ethan  Allen  and  Major  Brown  were  both  ob- 
noxious to  this  charge.  The  former,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
regarded  by  Schuyler  as  a  dangerous  man,  not  because  of 
any  lack  of  patriotism,  or  for  evil  intentions,  but  because 
he  could  not  be  kept  within  subordinate  bounds.  Events 
partially  justified  the  opinion.  His  boldness,  zeal,  peculiar 
personal  bearing,  and  extravagant  promises,  captivated  the 
simple  Canadians,  and  he  had  been  a  very  successful  politi- 
cal preacher  among  them.  Within  a  week  after  he  left 
the  camp  at  the  Isle  aux  Noix  he  was  at  St.  Ours,  twelve 
miles  southeast  of  the  Sorel,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
Canadians  under  arms,  and  he  wrote  to  General  Mont- 
gomery that  within  three  days  he  should  join  him  in  the 
siege  of  St.  John's.  His  letter  was  characteristic — san- 
guine, boastful,  and  indicative  of  the  elation  of  success.  "  I 
could  raise/'  he  wrote,  "  one  or  two  thousand  in  a  week's 

18* 


418  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

time  ;  but  I  will  first  visit  the  army  with  a  less  number, 
and,  if  necessary,  go  again  recruiting.  Those  that  used  to 
be  enemies  to  our  cause  come  cap  in  hand  to  me ;  and  I 
swear  by  the  Lord  I  can  raise  three  times  the  number  of 
our  army  in  Canada,  provided  you  continue  the  siege/'* 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  September,  while  Allen 
was  on  his  way  to  Montgomery's  camp,  he  fell  in  with 
Major  Brown,  on  the  road  between  Longueuil  and  La- 
prairie,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  two  hundred 
Americans  and  Canadians.  Allen  had  with  him  a  guard 
of  eighty  men,  chiefly  Canadians.  He  and  Brown,  and 
their  confidants,  held  a  private  interview  in  a  house  near 
by,  when  the  latter  told  the  former,  that  the  garrison  at 
Montreal,  where  no  danger  was  apprehended,  did  not  ex- 
ceed thirty  men,  and  the  town  might  easily  be  taken.  He 
proposed  that  they  should,  with  their  respective  forces, 
cross  the  St.  Lawrence  at  separate  points  above  and  be- 
low Montreal,  make  a  simultaneous  attack  upon  it,  and 
secure  a  joint  and  very  important  victory.  Allen  eagerly 
approved  of  the  proposition.  He  doubtless  remembered 
the  pleasures  of  success  at  Ticonderoga  a  few  months  be- 
fore, and  the  applause  that  followed,  and  also  the  indignity 
cast  upon  him  in  the  Grants,  in  omitting  to  choose  him 
the  leader  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  ;  and  he  saw  a 
fair  prospect  of  enjoying  a  repetition  of  the  glory  and  honor 
achieved  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  a  vindication  of  his 
character  as  a  brave  and  successful  leader.  His  partisan 
spirit  was  thoroughly  aroused  ;  and  no  doubt  visions  of 
victory  and  the  plaudits  of  posterity  suddenly  assumed  the 
shape  of  reality  in  his  mind,  and  made  him  impatient  for 
action. 

The  plan  was  soon  arranged  between  the  partisans. 

*  Autograph  letter,  Sept.  22,  1775. 


1775.]     ATTEMPTED    CAPTURE    OF    MONTREAL.     419 

Allen  was  to  return  to  Longueuil,  on  the  southern  shore 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  a  little  below  Montreal,  and  cross 
there,  while  Brown  and  his  two  hundred  followers  were  to 
cross  at  Laprairie,  just  above  the  city.  The  passage  was 
to  be  accomplished  in  the  night,  and  early  the  next  morn- 
ing the  exchange  of  three  huzzas,  by  the  two  parties,  was 
to  be  the  signal  of  attack  upon  the  town.  These  arrange- 
ments were  made  by  the  parties  without  the  consent  of 
Montgomery,  who  was  anxiously  waiting  for  the  reinforce- 
ments expected  from  these  men,  to  push  the  siege  of  St. 
John's  to  completion. 

Allen  hastened  back  to  Longueuil,  added  about  thirty 
"English- Americans"  to  his  party,  collected  a  few  canoes, 
and  crossed  the  river  during  the  night  of  the  24th.  The 
night  was  dark  and  windy,  the  current  and  eddies  of  St. 
Mary's  rapids  strong  and  dangerous,  and  the  canoes  few  and 
frail.  The  passage  was  protracted  and  tedious.  Three 
times  the  canoes  crossed  and  recrossed  before  all  were 
landed  on  the  opposite  shore  ;  and  when  the  last  canoe- 
load  had  touched  the  bank,  day  had  dawned. 

Allen  placed  guards  in  such  a  way  that  intelligence  of 
his  presence  should  not  reach  Montreal ;  and  then  he 
anxiously  awaited  the  promised  huzzas  from  Brown's 
party.  The  sun  arose,  and  yet  no  signal  was  heard.  It 
mounted  higher  and  higher  toward  the  meridian,  and  still 
all  was  silent  above.  The  gallant  Vermonter,  conscious 
of  being  alone,  and  too  weak  to  carry  out  the  enterprise, 
would  have  retreated,  but  it  was  too  late.  Already  an 
escaped  captive  had  alarmed  the  garrison  and  the  city,  and 
all  but  the  first  canoe-loads  must  become  prisoners  if  an 
attempt  should  be  made  to  recross  the  river.  Allen  would 
not  leave  any  of  his  men.  "  This,"  he  said,  "  I  could  not 
reconcile  to  my  feelings  as  a  man,  much  less  as  an  officer, 


420  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

and  I  therefore  concluded  to  maintain  the  ground,  if  pos- 
sible, and  all  to  fare  alike." 

On  the  appearance  of  this  band,  the  people  of  Montreal 
were  greatly  excited.  Allen  took  a  defensive  position,  and 
resolved  to  sell  his  life  dearly.  The  morning  wore  away, 
and  it  was  afternoon  before  any  opponents  appeared.  At 
three  o'clock,  Major  Campbell,  with  a  "  mixed  multitude," 
composed  of  forty  regular  troops,  over  two  hundred  Cana- 
dians, and  some  of  the  Indians  then  in  Montreal,  came 
down  upon  the  invaders.  A  very  sharp  conflict  ensued, 
which  lasted  almost  two  hours.  Allen  commanded  skill- 
fully and  fought  bravely,  until  only  thirty  or  forty  of  his 
men  remained.  Some  of  them  were  wounded,  and  some 
had  been  killed.  The  Canadians,  almost  to  a  man,  had 
deserted  him  at  the  beginning  of  the  .engagement. 

"  Being  almost  entirely  surrounded  with  such  vast  unequal  numbers," 
says  Allen,  in  his  Narrative,  "  I  ordered  a  retreat,  but  found  that  those 
of  the  enemy  who  were  of  the  country,  and  their  Indians,  would  run  as 
fast  as  my  men,  though  the  regulars  could  not.  Thus  I  retreated  more 
than  a  mile,  and  some  of  the  enemy,  with  the  savages,  kept  flanking  me, 
and  others  crowded  hard  in  the  rear.  In  fine,  I  expected  in  a  very  short 
time,  to  try  the  world  of  spirits ;  for  I  was  apprehensive  that  no  quar- 
ter would  be  given  to  me,  and,  therefore,  had  determined  to  sell  my 
life  as  dear  as  I  could.  One  of  the  enemy's  officers,  boldly  pressing  in 
the  rear,  discharged  his  fusee  at  me  ;  the  ball  whistled  near  me  as  did 
many  others  that  day.  I  returned  the  salute  and  missed  him,  as  run- 
ning had  put  us  both  out  of  breath  (for  I  conclude  we  were  not  fright- 
ened) ;  I  then  saluted  him  with  my  tongue  in  a  harsh  manner  and  told 
him  that  inasmuch  as  his  numbers  were  so  far  superior  to  mine,  I  would 
surrender,  provided  I  could  be  treated  with  honor,  and  be  assured  of 
good  quarter  for  myself  and  the  men  who  were  with  me.  He  answered 
I  should.  Another  officer  coming  up  directly  after,  confirmed  the  treaty, 
upon  which  I  agreed  to  surrender  with  my  party,  which  then  consisted 
of  thirty-one  effective  men,  and  seven  wounded.  I  ordered  them  to 
ground  their  arms  which  they  did."* 

*  A  Narrative  of  Colonel  Ethan  Allerts  captivity,  written  by  himself: 
Walpole,  1807. 


1115.]  ETHAN     ALLEN     A     PRISONER.  421 

The  prisoners  were  conducted  in  triumph  into  Montreal, 
and  delivered  to  General  Prescott,  a  narrow-minded,  petty 
tyrant,  who,  as  his  subsequent  conduct  on  Rhode  Island 
showed,  seldom  exercised  the  common  courtesies  of  life 
toward  the  unfortunate  who  fell  into  his  hands.  Toward 
a  man  like  Allen,  he  was  disposed  to  be  specially  cruel ; 
and  his  anger  was  made  hot  by  the  first  sight  of  his  pris- 
oner, who  was  rough  in  manner  and  personal  appearance. 
He  exhibited  none  of  the  common  characteristics  of  a 
soldier  or  a  gentleman.  His  jacket  was  made  of  deer-skin  ; 
his  undervest  and  breeches  of  Sagathy  ;  his  shoes  of  cow- 
skin,  the  soles  well  fortified  by  hob-nails  ;  and  on  his  head 
was  a  red  woolen  cap.  Most  of  his  followers  were  equally 
rough  in  appearance  ;  and  to  the  eye  of  Prescott  they 
seemed  more  like  free-booters  than  soldiers. 

"  Who  are  you  ?  What  is  your  name  V*  inquired 
Prescott  in  a  loud  and  angry  tone,  when  Allen  was  brought 
to  him  in  the  barrack-yard  at  Montreal,  closely  guarded 
by  the  regular  troops.  He  was  answered  by  the  prisoner, 
when  Prescott  roared  out,  "  Are  you  the  scoundrel  who 
took  Ticonderoga  ?"  "  I  am  the  very  man/'  Allen  replied 
fiercely.  Prescott  then  stormed,  called  him  hard  names, 
denounced  him  as  a  rebel,  in  bitter  terms,  and  shook  his 
cane  over  Allen's  head,  threatening  to  beat  him.  "  I  told 
him/'  says  Allen,  "  he  would  do  well  not  to  cane  me,  for 
I  was  not  accustomed  to  it  ;  and  I  shook  my  fist  at  him, 
telling  him  that  was  the  beetle  of  mortality  for  him,  if  he 
offered  to  strike."  A  British  officer  standing  by,  whis- 
pered to  Prescott  that  it  would  be  dishonorable  to  strike  a 
prisoner,  and  the  brigadier  contented  himself  with  bestow- 
ing a  few  curses  upon  the  "  rebel,"  and  assuring  him  that 
he  should  "  grace  the  halter  at  Tyburn."  He  then  ordered 
the  prisoners  to  be  taken  by  a  guard  on  board  the  Gaspe 


422  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  42. 

war-schooner,  Captain  Kyall,  lying  at  Montreal,  placed 
them  in  irons,  and  thrust  them  into  the  hold  of  the  vessel. 
This  barbarous  order  was  rigidly  executed.  A  bar  of  iron 
eight  feet  long,  was  rivited  to  the  shackles  of  Allen,  and 
his  fellow-prisoners  were  fastened  together  in  pairs,  with 
hand-cuffs.* 

Allen's  shackles  were  so  tight  that  he  could  not  lie  down 
except  on  his  back.  He  obtained  permission  to  write 
to  Prescott,  and  in  his  respectful  letter  reminded  that 
officer  that  he  was  receiving  treatment  undeserving  his 
own  humane  conduct  toward  British  prisoners  who  had 
been  in  his  power.  "  When  I  had  the  command,  and  took 
Captain  De  Laplace  and  Lieutenant  Fulton,  with  the  gar- 
rison of  Ticonderoga,"  he  said,  "  I  treated  them  with  every 
mark  of  friendship  and  generosity,  the  evidence  of  which 
is  notorious  even  in  Canada.     I  have  only  to  add  that  I 

*  Allen  in  his  Narrative  says  his  "  handcuffs  were  of  the  ordinary  size, 
but  his  leg  irons,  which  were  very  tight,  would  weigh,  he  imagined,  thirty 
pounds;  the  bar  was  eight  feet  long  and  very  substantial."  When,  a  few 
weeks  later,  General  Wooster  was  in  command  at  Montreal,  he  instituted  in- 
quiries concerning  the  harsh  treatment  of  Colonel  Allen,  by  order  of  General 
Schuyler.  From  a  number  of  depositions,  in  manuscript  before  me,  I  copy 
only  one,  the  others  being  substantially  the  same : 

"I,  the  subscriber,  being  of  lawful  age,  do  testify  and  say,  that  a  gentle- 
man known  as  Colonel  Allen,  was  brought  on  board  the  Gaspe  man-of-war, 
then  lying  before  the  town  of  Montreal,  some  time  in  the  month  of  Septem- 
ber, 1775,  and  pursuant  to  the  orders  of  Captain  Byall,  who  then  commanded 
said  ship,  I  put  a  pair  of  irons  on  said  Allen's  legs,  wliich  he  wore  for  seven 
or  eight  days,  during  which  he  was  kept  by  the  boatswain's  cabin.  After- 
wards the  irons  were  taken  off  his  legs  and  handcuffs  were  put  on  his  hands, 
which  was  the  practice  for  some  considerable  time ;  then  only  one  leg  was 
ironed  in  the  night,  and  handcuffs  in  the  day."     Further  saith  not 

Vm.  Bradley,  midshipman  on  board  the  Gaspe. 

This  deposition  is  given,  because  the  statements  of  Colonel  Allen  that  he 
was  put  in  irons,  or  otherwise  treated  than  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  have  been 
denied.  Of  the  midshipman  who  made  this  deposition,  Allen  in  his  Narrative 
says :  "  One  of  the  officers,  by  the  name  of  Bradley,  was  very  generous  to 
me ;  he  would  often  send  me  victuals  from  his  own  table ;  nor  did  a  day  fail 
but  he  sent  me  a  good  drink  of  grog." 


1775.]  EFFECT     OF     ALLEN* S     RAID.  423 

expect  an  honorable  and  humane  treatment,  as  an  officer 
of  my  rank  and  merit  should  have."  The  brutal  Prescott 
gave  the  prisoner  no  response.  He  remained  in  irons  on 
board  the  Gaspe  between  five  and  six  weeks,  when  he  was 
sent  to  Quebec,  and  from  thence  to  England  to  be  tried  for 
treason. 

The  treatment  which  Colonel  Allen  received  during  a 
captivity  of  two  years  and  six  months,  at  different  times, 
was  disgraceful  to  the  British  authorities,  and  it  was  only 
because  of  the  fear  of  unpleasant  consequences  to  the  British 
officers  in  the  hands  of  the  Americans,  that  he  was  re- 
leased from  confinement  in  Pendennis  Castle,  and  sent  to 
America  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  He  was  exchanged  for 
Colonel  Campbell,  in  May,  1778. 

Allen's  raid  increased  Montgomery's  difficulties,  pro- 
longed the  seige,  and  produced  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the 
campaign.  It  discouraged  the  Canadians,  and  caused  for 
the  moment  a  great  change  in  their  feelings  toward  the 
republican  cause.  Brooke  Watson,  an  English  merchant, 
who  was  in  Montreal  two  or  three  weeks  after  the  affair, 
and  who  went  to  England  in  the  same  ship  with  Allen, 
writing  to  Benjamin  Faneuil,  of  Boston,  said  : 

"  Surely  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  can  not  much  longer  be  gov- 
erned by  such  weak  councils  and  feeble  efforts.  She  has  scarcely  got  a 
secure  province  in  America.  As  to  this,  it  has  long  been  on  the  brink 
of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  most  despicable  wretches.  Had  not  the 
inhabitants  of  this  town  gone  out  to  meet  Colonel  Allen  on  Monday, 
the  25th  ultimo,  the  town  and  the  principal  part  of  the  province,  would 
now  have  been  in  their  hands,  and  that  fellow  would  probably  have 
been  governor  of  Montreal.  Thank  God,  that  day's  action  turned  the 
minds  of  the  Canadians,  and  I  have  reason  to  hope  the  province  out  of 
danger,  at  least,  for  this  year."* 

To  John  Butler  he  wrote  three  days  later  : 

"  Colonel  Allen,  who  commanded  this  despicable   party  of  plun- 
*  Autograph  letter,  October  16,  1775. 


424  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JET.  42, 

derers  (they  were  promised  the  plunder  of  the  town)  was,  with  most 
of  his  wretches,  taken.  He  is  now  in  irons  on  board  the  Gaspe.  This 
action  gave  a  sudden  turn  to  the  Canadians,  who  before,  were  nine- 
tenths  for  the  Bostonians.  There  are  great  numbers  now  in  arms  for 
the  King,  but  the  enemy  have  possession  of  the  South  side  of  the  river 
as  low  as  Verchere,  except  the  garrison  of  St.  John's,  which  they  still 
invest  with  little  hopes  on  their  side,  and  little  fear  on  ours  of  its  being 
taken."* 

Montgomery  was  much  annoyed  by  Allen's  affair,  yet  it 
appears  from  his  letters  that  he  was  not  wholly  ignorant  of 
the  project  of  the  partisans  before  its  attempted  execution. 
On  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  September,  he  wrote  to 
Schuyler,  saying  : 

"  Allen,  Warner,  and  Brown,  are  at  Laprairie  and  Longueuil,  with  a 
party  of  our  troops  and  some  Canadians — how  many  I  can't  tell.  They 
all  speak  well  of  the  good  disposition  of  the  Canadians.  They  have  a 
project  of  making  an  attempt  on  Montreal ;  I  fear  the  troops  are  not  fit 
for  it."t 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  he  wrote  : 

"  Since  mine  of  this  morning,  I  have  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Liv- 
ingston, J  and  another  from  Colonel  Warner,  who  is  at  Laprairie,  ac- 
quainting me  that  Colonel  Allen  had  passed  the  river  at  Montreal,  or 
below  it  rather,  with  thirty  of  ours  and  fifty  Canadians ;  that  he  had 
been  attacked  by  a  superior  party  from  the  garrison  j  that  he  was  taken 
prisoner,  two  or  three  killed  and  as  many  more  wounded,  and  that  the 
rest  took  to  their  heels.  I  have  to  lament  Mr.  Allen's  imprudence  and 
ambition,  which  urged  him  to  this  affair  single-handed,  when  he  might 
have  had  a  considerable  reinforcement." 

Not  fully  comprehending  the  circumstances,  nor  aware 
of  the  greater  blame  that  attached  to  Major  Brown,  General 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Oct.  19,  17T5. 

f  Autograph  Letter. 

X  Mr.  James  Livingston,  who  had  for  some  time  resided  near  Chamblee, 
was  a  favorite  among  the  Canadians  in  that  parish.  He  was  then  en- 
camped with  quite  a  large  number  of  them,  at  Point  Olina,  not  far  from  Fort 
Chamblee.  In  his  letter  hs  said :  "  Mr.  Allen  should  never  have  attempted 
to  attack  the  town,  without  my  knowledge,  or  acquainting  me  of  his  design, 
as  I  had  it  in  my  power  to  furnish  him  a  number  of  men." 


1775.]  MONTGOMERY'S     DIFFICULTIES.  425 

Schuyler,  who  clearly  foresaw  the  evil  effects  of  Allen's 
expedition,  upon  the  Canadians,  wrote  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  saying — "  I  am  apprehensive  of  disagreeable  con- 
sequences arising  from  Mr.  Allen's  imprudence.  I  al- 
ways dreaded  his  impatience  of  subordination,  and  it  was 
not  until  after  a  solemn  promise  made  me,  in  the  presence 
of  several  officers,  that  he  would  demean  himself  properly, 
that  I  would  permit  him  to  attend  the  army.  Nor  would 
I  have  consented  then,  had  not  his  solicitations  been 
backed  by  several  officers." 

Three  weeks  afterward,  Washington  said  in  a  letter  to 
Schuyler  :  "  Colonel  Allen's  misfortune  will,  I  hope,  teach 
a  lesson  of  prudence  and  subordination  to  others,  who  may 
be.  too  ambitious  to  outshine  their  general  officers,  and  re- 
gardless of  order  and  duty,  rush  into  enterprises  which  have 
unfavorable  effects  upon  the  public,  and  are  destructive  to 
themselves."     But  the  lesson  was  not  heeded. 

October  was  wearing  away,  and  the  inclement  season 
was  fast  approaching,  and  yet  the  successful  termination  of 
the  siege  of  St.  John's  appeared  as  remote  as  when  first 
begun.  Very  little  had  been  accomplished.  Montgomery 
was  surrounded  by  a  host  of  difficulties.  He  had  no  officers 
of  military  experience  and  proper  military  spirit,  to  whom 
he  might  turn  in  his  perplexity  for  sound  advice  ;  and 
while  he  was  thus  left  to  rely  wholly  upon  his  own  judg- 
ment, he  was  continually  annoyed  and  his  plans  thwarted 
by  the  interference  of  those  whose  ability  and  position  gave 
them  no  right  to  counsel  or  decide. 

The  garrison  appeared  to  be  too  well  supplied  with  pro- 
visions to  allow  a  hope  on  the  part  of  Montgomery  that 
they  might  be  conquered  by  starvation.  The  ground  on 
which  he  was  encamped  was  low  and  very  wet,  for  the 
autumn  rains  had  begun,  and  the  troops  were  suffering 


426  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

severely  from  sickness.  General  discontent  prevailed,  and 
the  Canadians  who  had  joined  the  Americans,  or  received 
them  as  friends,  became  very  uneasy  at  the  prospect  of 
failure,  notwithstanding  the  general  assured  them  that  if 
his  army  should  be  compelled  to  retire  without  a  victory, 
he  would  take  care  of  all  those  who  dared  not  remain  in 
the  country. 

The  discontent  in  the  army  culminated  in  open  oppo- 
sition to  the  general,  when  he  proposed  to  change  the 
position  of  the  camp  to  higher  and  dryer  ground,  and  to 
plant  a  battery  within  four  hundred  yards  of  the  north 
side  of  the  fort.  He  was  preparing  for  this  movement, 
when  Major  Brown  informed  him  that  unless  attention 
was  immediately  directed  to  the  east  side  of  the  river,  from 
which  the  troops  thought  they  could  more  effectually  dam- 
age the  enemy,  and  sooner  win  a  victory,  and  give  them 
the  privilege  of  returning  home,  a  meeting  would  be  called 
to  devise  measures  in  accordance  with  their  views.  Not- 
withstanding he  was  used  to  insubordination,  Montgomery 
was  astonished  at  this  information.  "  I  did  not  consider," 
he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Schuyler,  "  I  was  at  the  head  of 
troops,  who  carry  the  spirit  of  freedom  into  the  field,  and 

think  for  themselves I  can  not  help  observing 

to  how  little  purpose  I  am  here.  Were  I  not  afraid  the 
example  would  be  too  generally  followed,  and  that  the 
public  service  might  suffer,  I  would  not  stay  an  hour  at 
the  head  of  troops  whose  operations  I  can  not  direct/'* 

Notwithstanding  his  patience  was  tried  to  the  utmost, 
Montgomery's  sense  of  obligation  to  his  adopted  country, 
at  that  critical  moment,  overcame  his  disgust.  He  yielded 
so  far  as  to  call  a  council  of  war.  "  Upon  considering  the 
fatal  consequences  which  might  flow  from  the  want  of  sub- 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Oct.  13,  1115. 


1775.]  CHAKACTER     OF     THE     ARMY.  427 

ordination  and  discipline  should  this  ill-humor  continue," 

he  wrote  to  Schuyler  ;  "my  unstable  authority  over  troops 

of  different  colonies,  the  insufficiency  of  the  military  law 

and  my  own  want  of  powers  to  enforce  it,  weak  as  it  is,  I 

thought  it  expedient  to  call  the  field  officers  together." 

The  council  was  held,  they  decided  against  Montgomery's 

plan,  and  he  was  compelled  to  acquiesce,  not,  however, 

without  unburdening  his  mind  freely  to  Schuyler,  who  was 

suffering  annoyances  of  every  kind  at  Ticonderoga,  arising 

from  similar  causes. 

"  The  New  England  troops,"  he  wrote,  "  are  the  worst  stuff  imagina- 
ble, for  soldiers.  They  are  home-sick  ;  their  regiments  have  melted  away, 
and  yet  not  a  man  dead  of  any  distemper.  There  is  such  an  equality 
among  them,  that  the  officers  have  no  authority,  and  there  are  very  few 
among  them  in  whose  spirit  I  have  confidence.  The  privates  are  all 
generals  but  not  soldiers  ;  and  so  jealous,  that  it  is  impossible,  though  a 
man  risk  his  person,  to  escape  the  imputation  of  jealousy."* 

Such  feelings  and  such  imputations,  as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  observe,  were  afterwards  freely  bestowed  upon 
Schuyler. 

Of  the  first  regiment  of  New  Yorkers  (McDougall's) 
Montgomery  gave  a  still  worse  account,  and  laid  before 
Schuyler  instances  of  great  un worthiness  both  in  the  officers 
and  men.  Of  the  latter  he  particularly  complained,  and  re- 
gretted much  that  McDougall  had  not  yet  joined  the  army. 

"  I  think  it  will  be  much  aid  to  the  service  to  give  Ritzema  a  regi- 
ment," he  wrote  to  Schuyler.  "  He  has  the  talent  for  making  a  regi- 
ment as  much  as  any  man  I  have  known.  Out  of  the  sweepings  of 
New  York  streets,  he  has  made  something  more  like  regular  troops, 
than  I  have  seen  in  the  Continental  service.  Should  not  McDougall 
resign  ?  We  can't  afford  sinecures.  Much  have  I  missed  him,  as  you 
will  easily  judge,  when  you  consider  our  talents  in  this  part  of  the 
world."f 

*  Autograph  letter,  October  31,  1775.  In  the  same  letter  speaking  of 
appointments  and  changes  that  he  had  made  in  the  army,  he  said — "  Dimon's 
brigade-majorship  I  bestowed  on  Weisenfels,  a  man  of  exceeding  good  char- 
acter, and  more  acquainted  with  the  service  than  most  of  us."  f  Ibid. 


428  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^T.  42. 

To  his  father-in-law,  Kobert  Livingston,  Montgomery- 
wrote  : 

"  The  difficulties  I  have  labored  under  from  want  of  discipline  in  the 
troops  (being  all  generals  and  few  soldiers),  want  of  provisions,  am- 
munition, and  men,  have  made  me  most  heartily  sick  of  this  business ; 
and  I  do  think  that  no  consideration  can  ever  induce  me  again  to  step 
out  of  the  path  of  private  life.  As  a  volunteer,  I  shall  ever  be  ready 
when  necessity  requires,  to  take  my  part  of  the  burden."*  In  deep 
bitterness  of  spirit  he  again  wrote — "  The  Master  of  Hindostan  could 
not  recompense  me  for  this  summer's  work.  I  have  envied  every 
wounded  man  who  has  had  so  good  an  apology  for  retiring  from  a 
scene  where  no  credit  can  be  obtained.  0  fortunate  husbandmen ; 
would  I  were  at  my  plow  again!" 

As,  from  time  to  time,  Montgomery  unbosomed  him- 
self to  Schuyler,  that  officer  responded  with  sympathetic 
feeling,  caused  by  his  daily  experience  of  the  effects  of 
wrong-doing.  "  Such  scenes  of  rascality,"  he  wrote,  "are 
daily  opening  to  me,  as  will  surprise  you  to  learn.  But 
you  must  not  be  troubled  by  any  from  hence,  having  doubt- 
less enough  where  you  are  to  try  your  temper.  The  dif- 
ficulties you  labor  under  are  extremely  distressing  to  me, 
but  patience  and  perseverance,  my  friend,  I  hope  will  carry 
you  through." 

It  is  an  unpleasant  duty  to  report  these  complaints 
concerning  the  troops  who  were  engaged  in  the  important 
campaign  against  Canada,  in  the  autumn  of  1775.  That 
they  were  just,  impartial  history,  enlightened  by  facts,  fully 
concedes.  Washington  suffered  more  severely  from  similar 
causes,  while  in  command  of  the  army  engaged  in  the 
siege  of  Boston  at  that  time.  His  letters  to  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  and  to  others,  are  full  of  complaints  of  a 
similar  character  to  those  uttered  by  Schuyler  and  Mont- 
gomery. Those  we  have  already  recorded,  and  shall  here- 
after record,  are  not  given  in  a  caviling  or  narrow  spirit, 
*  Autograph  letter,  October  20,  1775. 


1775.]  GLEAMS     OF     HOPE.  429 

with  a  view  to  disparage  any  man  or  body  of  men,  but  as 
unquestioned  facts,  necessary  to  be  used  as  rebutting  testi- 
mony in  vindication  of  General  Schuyler's  character  from 
foul  aspersions  at  that  time,  and  the  ungenerous  attacks 
of  partisan  writers  at  the  present  day. 

Surely  no  American  can  ask  for  better  evidence  in  the 
case,  than  the  word  of  that  early  martyr  to  Liberty  in 
America,  Kichard  Montgomery.  He  and  Schuyler — a 
noble  pair  of  brothers — at  the  sacrifice  of  every  comfort 
to  be  derived  from  exalted  social  position,  wealth,  and 
happy  domestic  relations  (and  one  of  them  suffering  from 
most  distressing  illness),  devoted  their  talents,  energies, 
influence,  fortune  and  health,  to  the  cause  of  their  country 
in  a  most  critical  hour,  with  beautiful  disinterestedness  ; 
honored  then  and  now  by  the  wise  and  good ;  loved  by  all 
who  could  appreciate  genius,  genuine  patriotism,  and  the 
value  of  generous  sacrifices ;  and  regarded  by  the  infant 
nation,  then  in  its  first  struggles  for  independent  existence, 
as  the  conservators  of  their  most  precious  interests  at  that 
moment.  "  The  more  I  reflect  on  your  expedition,"  Wash- 
ington wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  the  greater  is  my  concern  lest 
it  should  sink  under  insuperable  difficulties.  I  look  upon 
the  interests  and  salvation  of  our  bleeding  country,  in  a 
great  degree,  as  depending  upon  your  success." 

Amidst  the  gloom  that  gathered  around  the  northern 
expedition  as  the  season  advanced,  there  were  occasional 
gleams  of  hope.  At  one  time  there  seemed  a  prospect  of 
a  speedy  closing  of  the  campaign  by  peaceful  arrangements, 
propositions  for  which  were  made  to  Montgomery  through 
the  Caughnawagas,  by  u  the  formidable  Le  Corne  St. 
Luc"  and  other  principal  inhabitants  of  Montreal.  A 
conference  at  Laprairie  was  proposed  and  held,  the  repub- 
licans being  represented  by  Majors  Livingston,  Brown,  and 


430  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

Macpherson,  the  latter  Schuyler's  accomplished  aid-de- 
camp, and  now  the  favorite  in  Montgomery's  military 
family.  The  general  doubted  Le  Corne's  sincerity,  and 
was  cautious.  He  committed  to  him  a  letter  to  Sir  G-uy 
Carleton,  and  bade  his  commissioners  to  be  exceedingly 
circumspect  in  their  negotiations.  The  conference,  as 
Montgomery  feared  it  would  be,  was  a  failure.  "  It  has 
ended  in  smoke,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler.  "  St.  Luke  made 
the  Indian  deliver  my  letter  to  Mr.  CarletOn,  who  had  it 
burned  without  reading  it.  The  Indian  told  the  Governor 
very  honestly  that  he  was  sent  to  me  by  St.  Luke  and 
others.  The  Indians  at  Caughnawaga  attended  at  La- 
prairie,  according  to  appointment,  and  are  much  displeased 
at  the  tricks  put  upon  them  by  these  gentlemen.  They 
seemed  to  think  St.  Luke  was  discovered  in  his  plan,  and 
dared  not  venture  to  carry  it  through.  I  hope  we  shall 
have  more  powder  !"  He  had  just  written,  "Your  dili- 
gence and  foresight  have  saved  us  from  the  difficulty  that 
threatened  us.  We  are  no  longer  afraid  of  starving  ;" 
and  now  he  added,  "  Your  residence  at  Ticonderoga  has 
probably  enabled  us  to  keep  our  ground.  How  much  do 
the  public  owe  you  for  your  attention  and  authority."* 

A  victory  now  cheered  the  commanders  and  their 
troops.  After  Allen's  raid,  Carleton  felt  a  great  anxiety 
to  relieve  St.  John's,  and  succeeded  in  assembling  about 
nine  hundred  Canadians  at  Montreal.  But  mutual  dis- 
trust was  such  a  strong  element  of  dissolution,  that  it  was 
difficult  to  keep  them  together. 

It  was  well-known  that  the  inhabitants  south  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  generally  favored  the  Americans  ;  and  the  Cana- 
dians who  joined  Carleton,  timid  and  dispirited,  deserted 
him  by  scores,  until  few  were  left.     He  could  not  depend 

*  Autograph  letter,  October  9,  1775. 


1775.1  VICTORY     AT     CHAMBLEE.  431 

upon  the  Indians.  Indeed,  he  probably  did  not  wish  to, 
for  his  nature  revolted  at  the  idea  of  letting  such  bloody 
savages  loose  upon  the  colonists. 

With  a  foolish  confidence  that  the  fort  at  Chamblee 
could  not  be  reached  by  the  invaders,  while  St.  John's  held 
out,  Carleton  had  neglected  to  arm  it.  Only  a  feeble  gar- 
rison was  there,  and  they  had  been  kept  in  a  state  of  alarm 
by  Livingston.  These  facts  were  communicated  to  Mont- 
gomery, and  he  directed  Livingston,  with  the  assistance  of 
Major  Brown  and  Colonel  Bedel,  to  make  a  night  attack 
upon  the  fort.  The  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  Chamblee, 
three  hundred  strong,  cheerfully  ranged  themselves  under 
the  banner  of  Major  Livingston  for  the  purpose,  atid  these 
were  joined  by  about  fifty  from  Montgomery's  camp,  under 
Brown  and  Bedel.  The  plan  of  attack  was  arranged  by 
the  Canadians,  who  were  acquainted  with  the  place. 
Under  the  cover  of  an  intensely  dark  night,  some  cannon 
were  conveyed  by  them  from  the  camp,  on  batteaux,  past 
the  fort  at  St.  John's  to  the  head  of  the  Chamblee  rapids, 
where  they  were  landed,  mounted  on  carriages,  and  dragged 
to  the  place  of  attack.  The  garrison,  under  Major  Stop- 
ford,  a  well-educated  and  polished  gentleman,  surprised 
and  overpowered,  made  a  feeble  and  brief  resistance,  and 
surrendered.* 

This  victory  occurred  on  the  18th  of  October,  and  was 
a  most  important  event  to  the  beseigers  of  St.  John's, 
whose  ammunition  was  almost  exhausted.  Among  the 
articles  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  republicans  were 
six  tons  of  gunpowder,  between  five  and  six  thousand 
musket  cartridges,  five  hundred  hand-grenades,  three  hun- 
dred swivel  shot,  and  a  large  quantity  of  provisions  and 

*  The  inhabitants  of  the  garrison,  surrendered  by  the  capitulation,  were 
ten  officers,  seventy-eight  private  soldiers,  thirty  women,  and  fifty-one  chil- 
dren.    The  prisoners  were  sent  to  Conuecticut. 


432  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^ET.  42. 

stores.  As  a  trophy,  the  Americans  secured  the  colors  of 
the  7th  regiment  of  British  regulars,  which  Montgomery- 
sent  to  General  Schuyler,  at  Ticonderoga.  This,  the  first 
military  trophy  of  the  kind  captured  by  the  republicans, 
was  sent  by  Schuyler  to  the  Continental  Congress  at  Phil- 
adelphia, and  for  a  while,  graced  the  walls  of  the  residence 
of  John  Hancock,  the  president  of  that  body.* 

*  Christopher  Marshall,  of  Philadelphia,  in  his  Diary,  made  the  following 
record : 

Nov.  3,  IT 75.  Account  just  brought  by  express,  of  the  surrender  of  Fort 
Chamblee  to  Major  Brown,  on  the  14th  [18th],  of  October,  in  which  was  a 
great  quantity  of  amunitiou,  provisions,  and  warlike  stores,  with  the  colors 
of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  or  Royal  Scotch  Fusileers,  which  were  brought  to 
the  Congress.     .     .     . 

Nov.  6.  Near  five,  son  Benjamin  accompanied  me  to  Colonel  Hancock's 
*.;  dgings,  in  order  to  see  the  ensigns  or  colors  taken  at  Fort  Chamblee,  Ac 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

The  easy  reduction  of  Chamblee  gave  Montgomery  as- 
surances of  success  ;  and  having  thereby  secured  an  ample 
provision  of  powder,  he  prepared  to  prosecute  the  seige  of 
St.  John's  with  greater  vigor.  His  troops  were  inspirited, 
a  better  feeling  prevailed  among  them,  and  he  had  the 
most  satisfactory  declarations  that  the  Caughnawaga  Indi- 
ans would  remain  strictly  neutral.  He  had  succeeded  in 
sinking  the  enemy's  armed  schooner  and  possessing  him- 
self of  every  avenue  to  the  country  from  the  fort  ;  and  he 
at  once  proceeded  to  the  erection  of  a  battery  within  two 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the  enemy's  strongest  works, 
upon  which  he  mounted  four  heavy  guns  and  six  mortars. 
He  also  erected  a  block-house  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  and  there  mounted  one  gun  and  two  mortars,  and 
then  commenced  the  assault  with  great  earnestness.  The 
gallant  Major  Preston,  who  commanded  the  fort,  held  out 
manfully,  for  he  was  in  daily  expectation  of  relief  from 
Governor  Carleton. 

At  this  time  General  Schuyler  had  some  unpleasant 
experiences  in  connection  with  General  Wooster  and  his 
troops,  who  had  arrived  at  Ticonderoga.  He  had  received 
assurances  from  time  to  time  that  Wooster  was  prepared 
to  act  as  independently  as  possible,  and  to  be  governed  by 
the  regulations  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  the  man- 
dates of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  North, 

19 


434  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

no  further  than  was  absolutely  necessary  to  comply  with 
the  strict  letter  of  his  obligations.  He  also  heard  rumors 
that  Wooster  was  provided  with  ample  provisions  for  his 
troops,  independent  of  the  Continental  commissariat ;  that 
he  regarded  his  commission  as  major-general  in  the  Con- 
necticut service  as  giving  him  rank  superior  to  that  of  brig- 
adier-general in  the  Continental  service  ;  and  that  he 
would  claim  to  outrank  Montgomery. 

Schuyler  foresaw  in  this  disposition  much  trouble  for 
himself  and  great  danger  to  the  expedition,  and  desired  to 
avoid  it  if  possible.  He  had,  from  the  beginning,  been 
much  annoyed  by  letters  from  Wooster,  who,  naturally 
presuming  upon  his  age  and  past  services,  made  sugges- 
tions concerning  military  operations  at  the  North,  that  at 
times  were  quite  censorious  in  tone.  Schuyler  was  not  a 
man  to  receive  such  letters  with  complacency,  and  at 
length,  being  irritated  by  Wooster's  impracticable  sugges- 
tions too  much  for  further  forbearance,  he  wrote  a  spicy 
letter  to  the  veteran  that  made  him  more  sparing  of  his 
advice  about  matters  of  which  he  knew  very  little. 

u  You  speak,1'  wrote  Schuyler,  "  with  as  much  ease  of  marching 
into  Canada  as  if  there  were  no  greater  obstacles  in  getting  there  than 
marching  from  Greenwich  to  New  York.  Taking  possession  of  Mon- 
treal and  Quebec  is  more  easily  said  than  done,  for  as  our  troops  have 
not  yet  learnt  to  swim  across  a  lake  of  an  hundred  miles  extent,  we  who 
are  upon  the  spot  find  some  difficulty  to  '  march  directly  into  Canada, 
and  take  possession  of  Montreal  and  Quebec  !'  The  building  of  boats 
when  not  one  material  was  on  the  spot ;  when  even  the  saw-  mills  were 
to  be  erected  or  repaired  to  cut  the  plank;  when  after  the  18th  of  July, 
on  which  I  arrived  here  [Ticonderoga],  I  had  to  send  down  the  coun- 
try for  carpenters,  and  to  bring  up  every  individual  article  for  the  very 
existence  of  the  troops,  was  found  a  matter  that  required  a  little  more 
time  than  you  seem  to  be  aware  of,  although  I  flatter  myself  that  as 
much  has  been  done  since  my  arrival  as  could  have  been  completed  by 
any  man  in  my  situation."* 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Orderly  Book,  August  14,  1775. 


1775.]  TROUBLE     EXPECTED.  435 

When,  a  month  later,  the  Continental  Congress  di- 
rected Wooster  to  proceed  to  Albany  with  his  troops,  in 
order  to  join  the  expedition  against  Canada,  and  Thomas 
Lynch,  a  delegate  in  Congress,  wrote  on  the  same  day, 
"  There  will  arise  a  difficulty  (and  God  knows  you  need 
no  additional  ones)  about  the  old  Connecticut  general/' 
Schuyler  felt  a  strong  desire  not  to  risk  the  interests  of 
his  expedition  by  the  collisions  of  authority  that  might 
occur.  Tender  of  his  brother  officer's  reputation,  he  was 
unwilling  to  lay  before  the  Congress  his  real  reasons  for 
not  desiring  the  presence  of  Wooster  and  his  troops,  and 
he  simply  remarked,  as  if  incidentally,  in  a  letter  to  that 
body,  on  the  28th  of  September  : 

"  I  do  not  think  I  shall  have  occasion  for  G-eneral  Wooster's  regi- 
ment, as  I  only  wait  for  batteaux  to  send  on  five  hundred  New  York- 
ers that  I  now  have  here,  and  which  I  suppose  will  soon  embark,  as 
the  wind  is  now  favorable  for  craft  to  come  from  St.  John's,  and  which 
I  expect  with  impatience."* 

But  the  Congress  was  already  aware  of  the  assump- 
tions of  Wooster,  and  the  independent  feeling,  of  his 
troops ;  and  on  the  receipt  of  Schuyler's  letter  they  wrote 
to  the  Connecticut  general  informing  him  that  it  was 
thought  his  services  would  not  be  needed  in  the  North, 
and  ordering  him  to  march  with  his  troops  "  to  the  batter- 
ies erecting  on  the  Highlands,  on  the  North  Kiver,"  there 
to  leave  as  many  of  them  as  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
works  might  desire,  and  to  proceed  with  the  rest  to  New 
York,  and  remain  there  until  further  orders  from  the  Con- 
gress.    They  added : 

"  But  in  case  you  should  have  any  orders  from  General 
Schuyler  previous  to  the  receipt  of  this,  to  join  the  army 
under  his  command,  or  in  any  way  to  be  aiding  to  his  ex- 

*  Schuyler's  Letter  Books. 


436  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

pedition,  you  are  wholly  to  conform  yourself  to  his  direc- 
tions, the  above  orders  of  Congress  notwithstanding/'** 

Long  before  this  order  was  issued  Wooster  and  his 
troops  had  made  their  way  northward  ;  and  the  day  before 
its  date,  they  had  left  Fort  George  at  the  head  of  Lake 
George,  and  arrived  at  Ticonderoga,  where  the  veteran  was 
courteously  received  by  Schuyler.  But  the  latter  had  re- 
solved that  Wooster  should  not  proceed  any  further,  be- 
cause information  which  had  just  been  communicated  to 
him  by  Gunning  Bedford,  the  deputy  muster-master-gen- 
eral, then  at  Fort  George,  made  him  fearful  that  on  his 
arrival  at  the  camp  the  Connecticut  general  would  assume 
rank  and  authority  superior  to  Montgomery,  and  cause 
disturbances  that  would  be  fatal  to  the  expedition. 

"  Suffer  me  to  condole  with  you,"  wrote  Bedford,  one  of  the  most 
active,  truthful,  and  reliable  men  in  the  army — "  suffer  me  to  condole 
with  you  at  the  approach  of  troubles  I  see  ready  to  be  heaped  upon 
you.  'General  Wooster  and  his  regiment  will  be  with  you  in  a  few 
days.  They  are  making  great  preparations,  as  if  all  the  execution  of 
the  army  was  to  be  done  by  them  alone.  He  brings  provisions  of  his 
own,  they  tell  me,  to  serve  his  regiment  for  the  campaign.  They  will 
not  touch  Ccntinental  stores,  nor  eat  Continental  provisions !  They 
boast  of  having  nothing  to  do  with  the  Continent.  Indeed,  to  me  they 
appear  rather  to  come  with  a  determination  to  abuse  the  Continental 
troops  and  their  commanders,  and  to  make  the  most  profit  by  the  cam- 
paign they  can,  than  to  serve  the  cause. 

"Officers  and  all  seem  to  be  concerned  in  sutling ;  but  your  calling 
some  of  them  to  account  at  Ticonderoga  has  frightened  them  from  carry- 
ing their  stores  across,  at  least  under  appearance  of  their  sutling. 
General  Wooster  has  bought  up  the  stores  of  Majors  Lockwood  and 
Colt,  the  former  of  whom  is  secretary  to  the  General,  and  the  latter, 
commissary  to  the  regiment !  So  that  he  means  to  carry  them  down 
as  necessary  stores  for  his  regiment !  He  told  me  himself  he  had  a  large 
quantity  of  pork  he  had  brought  with  him,  with  molasses,  sugar,  peas, 
rice,  chocolate,  and  soap  enough,  to  last  his  troops ;  and  they  would  not 
go  forward  without  them,  nor  indeed  till  they  saw  them  go  before.  The 
general  told  Dr.  Stringer  that  he  was  Major  General  of  the  Connecticut 
forces,  and  that  no  man  on  this  side  Connecticut  had  a  right  to  dis- 
charge one  of  his  soldiers,  but  himself 

*  October  19th.  1775. 


1775.]  THE     CONNECTICUT      TROOPS.  437 

"  Mr.  Cobb,  the  commissary  here,  is  a  Connecticut  man  (but  who 
despises  them  thoroughly  in  his  heart),  and  was  let  into  his  counsels.  He 
was  present  when  General  Wooster  was  about  calling  a  court-martial. 
He  had  not  officers  enough  of  his  own  to  form  it,  and  how  to  get 
others  he  did  not  know,  without  signing  himself  brigadier-general.  He 
mentioned  the  difficulty  to  his  officers,  '  Why,'  one  of  them  replied, 
you  have  two  strings  to  your  bow  ;'  another,  '  take  ca:e  you  don't  pull 
on  the  weakest;'  and  a  third,  'you  may  pull  on  both,  on  occasion.' 
Cobb  says  he  believes  he  signed  brigadier-general,  but  would  not  be 
certain;  however,  it  might  be  found  out  by  getting  the  orders. 

"  So  I  foresee  the  difficulties  you  will  be  involved  in  by  the  jealousy 
Wooster's  regiment  must  create  among  the  other  troops,  when  they  see 
them  so  much  better  provided  with  everything  than  they  are  or  can  be, 
and  more  especially,  should  Wooster  oppose  your  superior  command 
over  the  Connecticut  forces.  It  is  almost  incredible,  but  their  conduct 
is  really  astonishing.  I  am  very  apprehensive  lest  they  may  more  dis- 
serve the  cause,  than  if  they  had  not  come  at  all. 

"  As  the  most  virtuous  character  is  never  secure  from  the  envious, 
malignant  tongue  of  slander,  so  the  disaffected  to  you,  in  your  army, 
have  delighted  your  enemies  by  poisoning  your  fame  therewith.  They 
would  wish  the  contagion  to  spread,  but  their  tools  are  too  insignificant, 
and  your  upright  conduct  must  ever  check  its  progress ;  and  I  assure 
you,  dear  sir,  I  feel  particularly  happy  in  having  it  in  my  power  to  do 
your  character  that  justice  it  really  merits."* 

Walter  Livingston,  the  deputy  commissary-general, 
writing  from  Albany  at  about  the  same  time,  confirmed 
Bedford's  statement  of  the  independent  provision  made  by 
Wooster  for  his  troops.  "  The  general  himself  told  me/' 
he  wrote,  "  that  he  had  twenty  day's  provisions  with  him, 
and  that  he  had  ordered  his  own  commissary  to  furnish 
him  from  time  to  time,  and  that  he  would  not  trouble  me 
on  that  score.  Provisions  have  arrived  for  him  since  he  left 
this." 

These  accounts  confirmed  Schuyler's  worst  anticipations 
of  difficulty  with  Wooster.  And  the  conduct  of  some  of 
his  troops  who  preceded  him  a  few  days,  made  him  resolve 
not  to  allow  Wooster  to  join  Montgomery.     They  evinced 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Oct.  15,  1175. 


438  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Ml.  42. 

a  disposition  to  recognize  no  authority  except  that  of  their 
own  commander. 

"  Two  hundred  and  fifty-three  of  General  Wooster's  regiment  came 
across  Lake  George  on  Sunday,"  wrote  Schuyler  to  the  Continental 
Congress  on  the  18th  of  October,  "  but  the  general  is  not  yet  arrived, 
and  they  do  not  choose  to  move  until  he  does.  Do  not  choose  to  move ! 
Strange  language  in  an  army  ;  but  the  irresistible  force  of  necessity 
obliges  me  to  put  up  with  it.  This  morning  I  gave  an  order  to  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Ward,  to  send  a  subaltern,  a  sergeant,  corporal,  and 
twenty  privates,  in  two  batteaux,  to  carry  powder,  artillery,  stores,  and 
men.  The  colonel,  who  is  a  good  man,  called  upon  me  to  know  if  he 
would  not  be  blamed  by  General  Wooster  for  obeying  my  orders.  I 
begged  him  to  send  the  men,  and  urged  the  necessity.  The  men,  I 
believe  will  condescend  to  go.  I  could  give  many  instances  of  a  simi- 
lar nature,  but  General  Montgomery  has  most  justly  and  emphatically 
given  the  reasons :  l  Troops  who  carry  the  spirit  of  freedom  into  the 
field,  and  think  for  themselves,  will  not  bear  either  subordination  or 
discipline.'"* 

Schuyler,  as  we  have  observed,  received  Wooster  courte- 
ously. He  was  agreeably  disappointed  in  his  apparent  dis- 
position. He  found  him  courteous,  conciliatory,  yielding, 
and  self-sacrificing.  "  My  intentions,"  he  wrote  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  on  the  18th,  "  were  to  have  him  re- 
main at  this  post,  but  assuring  me  that  his  regiment  would 
not  move  without  him,  and  that  although  he  thought  hard 
of  being  superseded,  f  yet  he  would  most  readily  put  him- 
self under  the  command  of  General  Montgomery  ;  that 
his  only  views  were  the  public  service,  and  that  no  ob- 
structions of  any  kind  would  be  given  by  him  ;  this  spir- 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 

\  When,  in  June,  1775,  the  Continental  Congress  made  their  appoint- 
ments of  general  officers  for  the  army,  Wooster  was  major-general  and  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Connecticut  troops.  He  was  raised  only  to  the  rank 
of  brigadier  in  the  Continental  service,  while  Israel  Putnam,  his  inferior  in 
rank  in  the  Colonial  service,  was  promoted  to  major-general.  He  felt  the 
slight  keenly,  yet,  with  the  spirit  of  true  patriotism,  he  consented  to  serve  in 
the  subordinate  capacity,  and  took  the  field  among  the  earliest  of  the  Conti- 
nental  officers. 


1775.]  A     QUESTION     SETTLED.  439 

ited  and  sensible  declaration  I  received  with  inexpressible 
satisfaction,  and  he  moves  to-morrow  with  the  first  divi- 
sion of  his  regiment."* 

On  the  following  morning  Schuyler  received  official 
notice  that  Wooster  had  held  a  general  court-martial  at 
Fort  George  (hinted  at  in  Bedford's  letter  of  the  15th) 
without  apprising  him  of  the  fact.  He  could  not,  in 
justice  to  his  position,  and  the  good  of  the  service,  over- 
look the  indignity ;  and  he  felt  specially  aggrieved  that 
Wooster  had  not,  by  either  a  written  or  oral  communica- 
tion, mentioned  the  subject  to  him.  He  naturally  re- 
garded Wooster's  professions  as  insincere,  and  he  imme- 
diately addressed  to  him  the  following  letter  : 

"  The  Continental  Congress  having  taken  the  first  six  regiments 
raised  this  year,  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut  (of  which  yours  is  one), 
into  the  pay  and  service  of  the  associated  colonies,  at  the  earnest  re- 
quest of  the  honorable  delegates  representing  the  colony  of  Connecticut, 
and  you  having,  in  a  variety  of  instances,  obeyed  the  orders  of  Con- 
gress, who  have  conferred  on  you  the  rank  of  brigadier-general  in  the 
army  of  the  associated  colonies,  I  was  taught  to  believe  that  you  con- 
sidered yourself  as  such,  both  from  what  I  have  above  observed,  and 
from  your  declarations  to  me  yesterday.  But  I  am  just  now  informed 
that  you  have  called  a  general  court-martial  at  Fort  George,  on  your 
way  up  here ;  a  conduct  which  I  can  not  account  for,  unless  you  con- 
sider yourself  my  superior,  and  that  can  not  be  in  virtue  of  your  ap- 
pointment by  Congress,  by  which  you  are  a  younger  brigadier-general 
than  Mr.  Montgomery ;  and  unless  you  consider  yourself  as  such,  I 
can  not,  consistently  with  the  duty  I  owe  the  public,  permit  you  to  join 
that  part  of  the  army  now  under  Brigadier-General  Montgomery's  com- 
mand, lest  a  confusion  and  disagreement  should  arise  that  might  prove 
fatal  to  our  operations  in  Canada.  You  will,  therefore,  Sir,  please  to 
give  me  your  explicit  answer  to  this  question  :  Whether  you  consider 
3'ourself  and  your  regiment  in  the  service  of  the  associated  colonies,  and 
yourself  a  younger  brigadier-general  than  Mr.  Montgomery  or  not? 
that  no  misapprehensions  or  misrepresentations  may  hereafter  arise. "f 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books.  f  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 


440  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

To  this  letter  General  Wooster  immediately  replied, 
as  follows  : 

"  In  answer  to  your  favor  of  this  day,  give  me  leave  to  acquaint  you 
that,  immediately  upon  my  receiving  the  Continental  articles  of  war  I 
gave  them  out  to  the  different  captains  and  commanders  of  companies 
in  my  regiment,  but  they  universally  declined  signing  them  ;  of  conse- 
quence in  the  discipline  of  the  troops  under  my  command  I  was  obliged 
to  continue  in  the  use  of  the  law  martial  of  Connecticut,  under  which 
they  were  raised,  which  I  certainly  had  a  right  to  do,  by  virtue  of  my 
commission  from  that  colony.  Upon  the  same  principle  I  ordered  a 
general  court-martial  at  Fort  George,  which,  whether  right  or  not,  was 
never  designed  in  the  least  to  contradict  or  counteract  your  authority 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  troops  within  this  department. 

"  With  regard  to  the  other  question,  my  appointment  in  the  Con- 
tinental army,  you  are  sensible,  could  not  be  very  agreeable  to  me, 
notwithstanding  which,  I  never  should  have  continued  in  the  service, 
had  I  not  determined  to  observe  the  rules  of  the  army.  No,  Sir !  I  have 
the  cause  of  my  country  too  much  at  heart  to  attempt  to  make  any 
difficulty  or  uneasiness  in  the  army,  upon  whom  the  success  of  an  en- 
terprise of  almost  infinite  benefit  to  the  country  is  now  depending.  I 
shall  consider  my  rank  in  the  army  what  my  commision  from  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  makes  it,  and  shall  not  attempt  to  dispute  the  com- 
mand with  General  Montgomery  at  St.  John's.  As  to  my  regiment,  I 
consider  them  as  what  they  really  are,  according  to  the  tenor  of  their 
enlistments  and  compact  with  the  colony  of  Connecticut  by  whom  they 
were  raised,  and  now  acting  in  conjunction  with  the  troops  of  the  other 
colonies  in  the  service  and  for  the  defense  of  the  associated  colonies  in 
general.  You  may  depend,  Sir,  that  I  shall  exert  myself  as  much  as 
possible  to  promote  the  strictest  union  and  harmony  among  both  officers 
and  soldiers  in  the  army,  and  use  every  means  in  my  power  to  give 
success  to  the  expedition."* 

This  letter,  and  the  following  official  notice  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  which  both 
Schuyler  and  Wooster  received  at  about  that  time,  were 
satisfactory.  Complaints  had  been  made  to  Governor 
Trumbull,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  insubordination  of 
the  Connecticut  troops  ;  and  finally,  on  the  second  Thurs- 
day of  October  the  Assembly  took  action,  as  follows  : 

*  Autograph  Letter,  October  19,  1775. 


1775]  A     SHARP     LETTER.  441 

"  This  Assembly  being  informed  that  certain  questions  and  disputes 
have  arisen  among  the  troops  lately  raised  by  this  colony,  and  sent 
into  the  colony  of  New  York,  and  such  as  are  now  employed  against 
the  ministerial  forces  in  Canada,  which  disputes,  unless  prevented,  may 
be  attended  with  unhappy  consequences :  Therefore,  it  is  hereby  Re- 
solved, by  this  Assembly,  that  all  the  troops  which  have  been  lately 
raised  by  this  colony,  for  the  special  defense  thereof,  and  sent  into  the 
colony  of  New  York,  and  all  such  as  are  now  employed  against  the 
ministerial  troops  in  Canada,  are,  and  shall  be  subject  to  the  rules, 
orders,  regulations,  and  discipline  of  the  Congress  of  the  twelve  united 
colonies,  during  the  time  of  their  enlistment.''* 

General  Wooster  sailed  with  his  troops  for  St.  John's, 
on  the  21st  of  October,  and  arrived  at  the  camp  on  the 
morning  of  the  23d.  The  soldiers  departed  with  great  re- 
luctance on  account  of  the  lateness  of  the  season  and  the 
possibility  of  their  not  being  able  to  return.  They  num- 
bered three  hundred  and  thirty-five  men,  including  the 
officers. 

On  the  day  after  Wooster  left,  Schuyler  suffered  a 
severe  attack  of  rheumatism,  and  on  the  following  day  the 
fever  returned  with  great  violence.  Mrs.  Schuyler  had 
been  with  him  for  a  while,  and  when  she  left  for  home,  on 
the  12th,  he  was  so  much  better  that  he  wrote  to  General 
Montgomery,  saying,  "  I  am  gaining  strength  so  fast  that 
I  propose  to  join  you  as  soon  as  I  have  sent  on  Wooster's 
corps,  who  are  now  at  Fort  George." 

He  was  now  tortured  by  both  disease  and  disappoint- 
ment, and  while  in  that  state  of  mind  and  body,  he  was 
informed,  by  some  injudicious  person,  of  remarks  made 
by  Wooster,  at  different  times,  since  his  arrival  at  Fort 
George,  disparaging  to  the  skill  and  bravery  of  both 
Schuyler  and  Montgomery.  Under  the  lashes  of  keen 
irritation,  he  wrote  to  Wooster,  as  follows,  on  the  23d  : 

*  Schuyler's  papers. 
19* 


442  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [&t,  42. 

"  Sir  : — Being  well  informed  that  you  have  declared  on  your  way  to 
this  place,  that  if  you  were  at  St.  John's,  you  would  march  into  the 
fort  at  the  head  of  your  regiment,  and  as  it  is  just  that  you  should  have 
an  opportunity  of  showing  your  prowess,  and  that  of  your  regiment,  I 
have  desired  General  Montgomery  to  give  you  leave  to  make  the  at- 
tempt if  you  choose.  I  do  not  wish,  however,  that  you  should  be  too 
lavish  of  your  men's  lives,  unless  you  have  a  prospect  of  gaining  the 
fortress." 

Schuyler  inclosed  this  in  his  letter  to  Montgomery, 
alluded  to,  saying,  "  You  may  seal  and  deliver,  or  destroy 
as  you  choose."  Montgomery  should  have  destroyed  it, 
for  he  well  knew  that  only  under  the  influence  of  extra- 
ordinary irritation  would  Schuyler  have  written  it. 
Wooster  made  no  reply  to  it,  but  in  a  letter  written  to 
Schuyler  some  months  afterward,  he  referred  to  it  with 
indignation,  as  having  been  a  false  accusation. 

Montgomery,  wearied  and  worn,  was  glad  when  the  ar- 
rival of  Wooster  gave  him  a  prospect  of  release. 

"  I  am  exceedingly  well  pleased,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  to  see 
Mr.  Wooster  here,  both  for  the  advantage  of  the  service,  and  upon  my 
own  account,  for  I  most  earnestly  request  to  be  suffered  to  retire, 
should  matters  stand  on  such  a  footing  this  winter  as  to  permit  me  to 
go  off  with  honor.  I  have  not  talents  nor  temper  for  such  a  command. 
I  am  under  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  acting  eternally  out  of  charac- 
ter— to  wheedle,  flatter,  and  lie.  I  stand  in  a  constrained  attitude.  I 
will  bear  with  it  for  a  short  time,  but  I  can  not  support  it  long.  The 
Canadians,  too,  distress  me  by  their  clashing  interests  and  private 
piques."  * 

Montgomery  and  Wooster  acted  in  concert,  and  upon 
the  most  friendly  footing.  Montgomery  asked  the  veteran 
soldier  to  live  with  him,  and  he  showed  him  every  atten- 
tion in  his  power.  Together  they  pressed  the  seige  of  St. 
John's  with  vigor. 

Carle  ton  made  great  efforts  to  relieve  the  garrison  at  St. 
John's.     He  sent  to  Quebec  for  aid,  and  Colonel  McLean, 

*  Autograph  letter,  October  31,  1775. 


1775.]  THE     BRITISH     DEFEATED.  443 

a  gallant  Scotch  officer,  who  had  served  the  British  King 
in  the  famous  rebellion  in  1745,  and  was  now  at  the  head 
of  three  hundred  Highlanders  at  Quebec,  called  The  Royal 
Highland  Emigrants,  agreed  to  ascend  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Sorel,  march  along  its  bank,  and  join 
Carleton  at  St.  John's.  With  this  assurance,  Carle  ton  with 
a  motley  force  of  one  hundred  regulars,  several  hundred 
Canadians  from  the  northward  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  a 
few  Indians,  accompanied  by  Le  Come  St.  Luc,  embarked 
in  thirty-four  batteaux,  and  attempted  to  land  at  Lon- 
gueuil,  a  mile  and  a  half  below  the  city.  Colonel  Seth 
Warner,  with  a  detachment  of  three  hundred  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys,  and  a  part  of  the  second  (Van  Schaick's)  New 
York  Kegiment,  was  on  the  alert  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
lay  in  covert  near  the  spot  where  Carleton  was  about  to 
land.  Warner  allowed  the  batteaux  to  approach  very  near 
the  shore,  when  he  opened  upon  them  a  severe  storm  of 
grape-shot  from  a  four  pound  cannon,  and  volleys  of  mus- 
ketry. The  enemy  were  driven  back  in  great  confusion,  and 
Carleton,  utterly  disconcerted,  retired  to  Montreal,  leaving 
behind  him  a  few  killed  and  wounded,  and  four  prisoners. 
The  latter  were  sent  immediately  to  Montgomery's  camp. 
McLean,  meanwhile,  had  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Sorel,  and  had  increased  his  force  by  pressing  many  Cana- 
dians into  his  service.  With  full  expectation  of  success 
against  a  band  of  undisciplined  rebels  whom  he  affected 
to  despise,  he  was  marching  toward  St.  John's  when  he 
was  met  by  Majors  Brown,  Livingstou,  and  Easton, 
flushed  by  their  recent  victory  at  Chamblee,  and  their  little 
force  strengthened  by  some  Green  Mountain  Boys.  McLean 
was  driven  back  to  his  landing  place,  where  his  Canadian 
recruits  by  compulsion,  deserted  him.  There  intelligence 
of  the  repulse  of  Carleton  met  him.     A  panic  seized  his 


444  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

troops,  and  before  the  republicans  reached  the  mouth  of 
the  Sorel,  the  gallant  McLean  and  his  followers  had  em- 
barked, and  were  on  their  way  to  Quebec.  Brown  and 
Livingston  took  post  there,  erected  batteries,  and  prepared 
to  oppose  the  passage  of  vessels  up  or  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence. 

Warner's  prisoners  arrived  at  Montgomery's  camp 
toward  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  they  were  cap- 
tured, and  while  the  great  guns  of  the  assailants  were  play- 
ing briskly  upon  the  British  works.  The  cannonade  was 
immediately  silenced,  and  a  flag  with  a  letter,  was  sent  in 
to  Major  Preston,  by  one  of  the  captives,  to  inform  him 
of  the  repulse  of  Carleton  and  to  demand  an  instantaneous 
surrender  of  the  fort.  Major  Preston  affected  to  doubt  the 
story  of  the  prisoner,  and  asked  for  a  delay  of  four  days. 
The  request  was  denied,  and  the  demand  was  instantly  re- 
newed. The  garrison  had  then  been  on  half  allowance  for 
some  time.  Menaced  with  starvation,  and  perceiving  no 
hope  of  relief,  the  gallant  Preston  was  compelled  to  yield. 
On  Friday,  the  3d  of  November,  Montgomery  wrote  to 
Schuyler,  saying  : 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  to  acquaint  you,  the  garrison  surrendered 
last  night.  This  morning  we  took  possession.  To-morrow  I  hope 
the  prisoners  will  set  off.  Inclosed  you  have  the  capitulation,  which 
I  hope  will  meet  with  your  approbation,  and  that  of  Congress.  I  have 
ventured  to  permit  an  officer  or  two  to  go  to  their  families,  which  are 
in  some  distress  at  Montreal,  on  their  parole.  They  can 't  do  us  any 
harm,  and  there  would  have  been  a  degree  of  inhumanity  in  refusing 
them.  .  .  Several  men  of  rank  in  Canada  are  among  the  prisoners. 
I  have  permitted  them  to  remain  at  Crown  Point  till  the  return  of  two 
gentlemen  they  sent  to  their  friends  for  money,  etc.  They  pleaded 
hard  to  return  home,  but  they  are  too  dangerous  to  let  loose  again. 
.  .  I  am  making  the  necessary  preparations  to  press  immediately  to 
Montreal,  by  way  of  Laprairie,  as  the  enemy  have  armed  vessels  in  the 
Sorel."* 

*  Autograph  Letter. 


17-75.]  SURRENDER     OF     ST.     JOHN'S.  445 

The  siege  had  continued  fifty-five  days,  and  Preston 
was  honored  by  all  for  his  gallant  defense  in  the  midst  of 
every  discouragement.  When  he  with  the  other  prisoners 
were  about  to  depart  for  Connecticut  (thai  great  receptacle 
of  captives  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  war),  under  the 
charge  of  Captain  Mott,  General  Schuyler  wrote  as  follows 
to  Governor  Trumbull  : 

"  From  Major  Preston  and  the  officers  of  the  26th  Regiment,  I  have 
experienced  the  most  polite  and  friendly  attention  when  I  was  a  stran- 
ger, a  traveler  in  Ireland.  A  return  of  good  offices  is  the  duty  of  every 
honest  man,  and  I  therefore  beg  leave  to  recommend  them  to  your 
Honor's  notice,  and  would  wish  if  there  is  any  choice  in  the  quarters 
which  you  shall  destine  to  them,  that  theirs  were  the  best,  which  I 
shall  consider  as  a  particular  favor  done  me."* 

Honorable  terms  were  granted  to  the  garrison  at  St. 
John's.  They  marched  out  of  the  fort  with  the  honors  of 
war,  and  the  troops  grounded  their  arms  on  the  plain  near 
by.  The  officers  were  allowed  to  retain  their  side-arms  ; 
and  the  baggage  of  both  officers  and  men  was  secured  to 
them.  The  generous  Montgomery  went  still  further — even 
beyond  what,  perhaps,  courtesy  or  the  usages  of  war, 
under  the  circumstances,  required.  He  allowed  to  each  of 
the  privates  a  new  suit  of  clothes  from  the  captured  stores. 
Of  this  the  scantily  clad  (and  some  half-naked)  repub- 
licans made  complaint.  The  rigors  of  a  Canadian  winter 
were  about  to  set  in,  and  they  needed  thick  and  ample 
clothing,  while  the  captives  were  to  be  sent  to  a  milder 
climate.  Both  officers  and  men  murmured  loudly,  and 
finally  they  boldly  demanded  a  reconsideration  of  the  cap- 
itulation. But  Montgomery  refused  even  while  the  harsh 
sounds  of  mutinous  discourse  were  ringing  in  his  ears. 
"  The  officers  of  the  first  regiment  of  Yorkers  and  artillery 
*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books,  Nov.  10,  1775. 


446  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^t.  42. 

company/'  lie  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  were  very  near  a  mutiny 
the  other  day,  because  I  would  not  stop  the  clothing  of  the 
garrison  of  St.  John's.  I  would  not  have  sullied  my  own 
reputation,  nor  disgraced  the  continental  arms,  by  a  breach 
of  capitulation,  for  the  universe.  There  was  no  driving  it 
into  their  noddles  that  clothing  was  really  the  property  of 
the  soldier — that  he  had  paid  for  it,  and  that  every  regi- 
ment (in  this  country  especially),  saved  a  year's  clothing 
to  have  decent  clothes  to  wear  on  particular  occasions."* 

The  garrison  that  surrendered  to  the  republicans,  con- 
sisted of  five  hundred  regular  troops  and  about  one  hundred 
Canadian  volunteers,  many  of  them  of  the  rank  of  noblesse, 
or  gentry.  Among  the  officers  were  Major  (then  Captain) 
Andre,  the  unfortunate  spy  in .  after  years.  Also  Captain 
Anbery  and  Lieutenant  Anstruther,  who  were  exchanged, 
and  again  made  prisoners  -with  Burgoyne,  in  the  autumn 
of  1777.  Anbury  published,  in  two  volumes,  an  interest- 
ing account  of  his  sojourn  in  America,  while  a  prisoner 
the  second  time. 

The  spoils  of  victory  were  seventeen  brass  ordnance, 
from  two  to  twenty-four  pounders  ;  two  eight-inch  how- 
itzers ;  twenty-two  iron  cannon,  from  three  to  nine 
pounders ;  a  considerable  quantity  of  shot  and  small 
shells  ;  eight  hundred  stand  of  arms,  and  a  small  quantity 
of  naval  stores.  The  ammunition  and  provisions  were  in- 
considerable, for  the  stock  of  each  was  nearly  exhausted. 

The  Congress  voted  thanks  to  both  Montgomery  and 
Wooster,  for  their  services  in  securing  the  victory  ;  and 
the  president  of  Congress,  in  his  long  letter  to  the  former, 
fully  approved  of  his  course  in  the  capitulation. 

"  Nor  are  the  humanity  and  politeness  with  which  you  have  treated 
those  in  your  power,"  he  said,  "  less  illustrious  instances  of  magnanimity 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Nov.  13,  1775. 


1775.]      HUMANITY     A    SOLDIER'S     ORNAMENT.      447 

than  the  valor  by  which  you  reduced  them  to  it.  The  Congress,  utterly 
abhorrent  from  every  species  of  cruelty  towards  prisoners,  and  deter- 
mined to  adhere  to  this  benevolent  maxim  till  the  conduct  of  their  ene- 
mies renders  a  deviation  from  it  indispensably  necessary,  will  ever 
applaud  their  officers  for  beautifully  blending  the  Christian  with  the 
conqueror,  and  never,  in  endeavoring  to  acquire  the  character  of  a  hero, 
lose  that  of  a  man." 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

On  the  day  when  General  Montgomery  achieved  his 
victory  at  St.  John's,  Colonel  Benedict  Arnold,  who,  with 
with  a  few  troops,  had  passed  the  great  wilderness  of  the 
Kennebec  and  Chaudiere,  and  achieved  a  more  wonderful 
triumph,  were  gathering  at  the  first  of  settlements  that 
stretched  from  the  forests  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  preparatory 
to  a  march  to  the  high  banks  of  that  river,  opposite 
Quebec. 

That  expedition,  which  formed  a  part  of  the  campaign 
against  Canada,  of  which  Schuyler  held  the  chief  com- 
mand, considered  in  all  its  features  and  circumstances, 
was  one  of  the  most  wonderful  on  record. 

We  have  already  observed  Arnold  leaving  Crown  Point 
in  a  towering  passion,  to  lay  complaints  of  ill-usage  be- 
fore Washington  at  Cambridge.  The  commander-in-chief, 
as  usual,  considered  the  whole  matter  dispassionately.  He 
appreciated  the  services  of  Arnold,  and  received  him  in  a 
most  friendly  manner  at  head-quarters.  His  story,  straight- 
forward and  well  corroborated,  soon  changed  the  tide  of  pop- 
ular feeling  that  had  been  rising  strongly  against  him.  His 
exploits  on  Lake  Champlain,  so  chivalric  and  useful,  created 
the  greatest  enthusiasm,  and  he  soon  found  himself  borne 
upon  a  flood  of  popular  sympathy,  in  which  Washington 
himself  was  a  participant.  Adventurous,  a  good  tactician 
and  disciplinarian,  and  possessed  of  the  faculty  of  inspiring 


1775.]  EXPEDITION     UNDER     ARNOLD.  449 

his  -troops  with  his  own  enthusiasm,  Arnold  appeared  to 
Washington  as  precisely  the  right  man  to  lead  a  cooperat- 
ing expedition  to  Quebec  by  way  of  the  wilderness,  which 
he  had  contemplated,  and  concerning  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  consulted  General  Schuyler.  When  his  plans 
were  matured,  Washington,  with  his  usual  wise  discrim- 
ination, gave  the  command  of  the  expedition  to  Arnold, 
and  commissioned  him  as  colonel  in  the  Continental  army. 
Arnold,  in  past  years,  had  carried  on  a  trade  in  horses  be- 
tween Quebec  and  the  West  Indies,  and  had  often  visited 
the  Canadian  capital  in  the  pursuit  of  his  vocation.  He 
was  familiar  with  the  town  and  understood  the  people, 
and  Washington  expected  to  see  him  successful. 

Arnold's  ambition  was  now  fully  gratified,  and  he 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  in  organizing  the 
expedition,  with  the  greatest  zeal.  Very  soon  eleven  hun- 
dred men  were  enrolled  for  the  perilous  service,  consisting 
of  ten  companies  of  New  England  infantry  (part  of  them 
from  General  Greene's  Rhode  Island  brigade),  two  rifle 
companies  from  Pennsylvania,  and  one  from  Virginia,  and 
a  number  of  volunteers.  These  formed  a  battalion.  Roger 
Enos  of  Connecticut  (whose  courage  was  not  sufficient  to 
carry  him  through  the  wilderness),  and  the  brave  Christo- 
pher Green  of  Rhode  Island,  were  Arnold's  lieutenants. 
The  majors  were  Meigs  of  Connecticut,  and  Bigelow  of 
Worcester,  Mass.  Morgan,  afterward  the  famous  leader 
in  the  southern  campaigns,  with  Heth,  who  behaved  bravely 
at  Germantown  two  years  later,  and  Humphreys,  led  the 
Virginia  riflemen.  Hendricks  commanded  a  Pennsylvania 
company.  Thayer,  who  behaved  so  gallantly  at  Fort 
Mifflin,  in  the  autumn  of  1777,  led  a  company  of  Rhode 
Islanders,  and  Dearborn  another  of  the  Massachusetts  in- 
fantry.    Among  the  volunteers  was  Aaron  Burr,  a  way- 


450  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

ward  grandson  of  the  renowned  theologian,  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, then  a  youth  of  nineteen,  who  arose  from  a  sick 
bed  on  hearing  of  the  expedition,  joined  it,  and  behaved 
nobly  to  the  end.  Samuel  Spring  of  Massachusetts  was 
the  chaplain. 

Arnold  was  invested  with  ample,  and  even  extraordi- 
nary powers,  yet  these  were  subservient  to  very  explicit 
instructions,  prepared  by  Washington  with  great  care.  In 
these,  Arnold  was  charged  to  push  forward  with  all  pos- 
sible expedition,  and  to  endeavor  to  discover  the  real  senti- 
ments of  the  Canadians  toward  the  republican  cause,  par- 
ticularly as  to  the  undertaking  in  which  he  was  engaged. 
He  was  instructed  not  to  prosecute  the  enterprise,  if  the 
Canadians  should  be  decidedly  opposed  to  it.  He  was 
furnished  with  a  quantity  of  friendly  addresses  in  the 
French  language,  which  he  was  to  distribute  among  the 
Canadians  when  he  should  emerge  from  the  wilderness  on 
the  St.  Lawrence  slope.  He  was  also  instructed  to  en- 
force rigid  discipline  and  good  order,  that  his  troops  might 
not  commit  the  least  outrage  upon  the  inhabitants,  either 
in  person  or  property ;  to  "  check  every  idea,  and  crush, 
in  its  earliest  stage,  every  attempt  to  plunder  even  those 
who  were  known  to  be  enemies  to  the  cause."  He  was 
directed  to  pay  full  value  for  every  thing  the  Canadians 
should  provide  for  him  on  his  march ;  by  no  means  to 
press  the  people  or  their  cattle  into  his  service  ;  and  not 
only  to  pay  perfect  respect  to  the  religious  feelings  and 
observances  of  the  country,  but  to  do  every  thing  in  his 
power  to  protect  and  support  the  free  exercise  of  those 
observances  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants. 

Acting  upon  the  hint  given  him  by  the  commanding- 
general  of  the  Northern  department,  Washington  added  : 
"  In  case  of  a  union  with  General  Schuyler,  or  if  he  should 


1775.]  TROOPS     IN     THE     WILDERNESS.  451 

be  in  Canada  upon  your  arrival  there,  you  are  by  no  means 
to  consider  yourself  as  upon  a  separate  and  independent 
command,  but  are  to  put  yourself  under  him,  and  follow 
his  instructions.  Upon  this  occasion,  and  all  others,  I 
recommend  most  earnestly  to  avoid  all  contention  about 
rank.  In  such  a  case,  every  post  is  honorable  in  which  a 
man  can  serve  his  country." 

Lord  Pitt,  a  younger  son  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  and 
aid-de-camp  to  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  it  was  supposed  was 
still  in  Canada,  and  Washington  instructed  Arnold,  that 
in  the  event  of  that  young  gentleman  falling  into  his 
hands,  he  should  treat  him  with  the  greatest  consideration. 
"  You  can  not  err,"  he  said,  "  in  paying  too  much  honor 
to  the  son  of  so  illustrious  a  character,  and  so  true  a  friend 
to  the  Americans." 

In  his  address  to  the  Canadians,  Washington,  after 
exhorting  them  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  colonists,  said : 
"  The  cause  of  America,  and  of  liberty,  is  the  cause  of 
every  virtuous  American  citizen ;  whatever  may  be  his  re- 
ligion or  descent,  the  united  colonies  know  no  distinction 
but  such  as  slavery,  corruption,  and  arbitrary  dominion 
may  create.  Come,  then,  ye  generous  citizens,  range  your- 
selves under  the  standard  of  general  liberty,  against  which 
all  the  forces  and  artifices  of  tyranny  will  never  be  able  to 
prevail." 

With  ample  appointments  for  the  expedition,  the 
troops  sailed  from  Medford  to  Newburyport  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  13th  of  September,  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
20th,  after  a  night  of  tempest — wind,  lightning,  and  rain 
— they  reached  G-ardiner,  on  the  Kennebec,  in  safety,  and 
in  two  hundred  batteaux,  already  prepared  for  them,  as- 
cended the  river  to  Fort  Western,  at  the  present 'city  of 
Augusta,  then  on  the  verge  of  the  great  wilderness.     That 


452  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [J&t.  42. 

was  the  designated  place  of  general  rendezvous.  Beyond 
it,  toward  Norridgewock  Falls,  only  a  log  house  appeared 
here  and  there,  and  above  that  cascade  no  white  man's 
dwelling  was  known.  An  exploring  party  was  immedi- 
ately dispatched  toward  the  Dead  Kiver,  a  considerable 
tributary  of  the  Kennebec,  and  another  toward  Lake  Me- 
gantic  or  Chaudiere  Pond,  the  head  waters  of  the  Chaudi- 
ere, each  pursuing  the  paths  of  the  moose-hunters,  and 
directed  by  the  maps  of  Colonel  Montressor,  who,  fifteen 
years  before,  had  come  from  Quebec,  ascended  the  Chau- 
diere, crossed  the  Highlands  near  the  head  waters  of  the 
Penobscot,  passed  through  Moosehead  Lake,  and  entered 
the  east  branch  of  the  Kennebec. 

The  whole  detachment  followed  in  four  divisions,  one 
day  apart.  Morgan  and  his  riflemen  formed  the  van  ; 
Green  and  Bigelow,  with  their  musketeers,  followed  next ; 
then  Meigs,  with  four  other  companies.  The  rear  was 
composed  of  three  companies,  under  Enos.  Arnold  left 
Port  Western  last,  and  at  Norridgewock  Falls  overtook 
Morgan  and  his  riflemen. 

At  the  Falls  the  greater  fatigues  of  the  journey  com- 
menced. Before  them  lay  an  uninhabited  and  almost 
trackless  wilderness,  yet  they  were  not  wholly  unprovided 
with  guides,  for  Arnold  procured  an  imperfect  copy  of 
Montressor's  journal,  and  also  a  journal  and  plans  of  Samuel 
Goodwin,  of  Pownalborough,  in  Maine,  who  had  been  in 
that  country  as  a  surveyor  for  twenty-five  years. 

Along  the  swift  Kennebec  the  expedition  moved,  carry- 
ing provisions,  baggage,  boats — every  thing — around  the 
rapids,  up  steep,  rocky  banks,  through  tangled  woods,  and 
across  deep  morasses,  sometimes  rowing,  sometimes  pole- 
ing,  sometimes  wading  and  dragging  their  batteau.     On 


1775.]  FALSE     MESSENGER.  453 

the  tenth  of  October  they  reached  the  dividing  ridge  be- 
tween the  Kennebec  and  Dead  Kivers. 

Already  the  weak  and  timid  had  faltered,  and  sick- 
ness and  desertion  had  reduced  the  battalion  to  about  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  effective  men.  These  were  in  fine  spirits 
and  full  of  enthusiasm.  The  lovely  Indian  summer  had 
commenced,  and  the  forests  were  arrayed  in  their  robes  of 
autumnal  splendor.  The  future  appeared  encouraging, 
and  on  the  12th  of  October  two  subalterns  were  sent  for- 
ward with  a  party  to  explore  and  clear  the  portages.  On 
the  following  day,  Arnold  dispatched  a  Canadian,  named 
Jakins,  to  Sertigan,  the  nearest  French  settlement,  to 
ascertain  the  political  sentiments  of  the  people.  He  also 
sent  forward  with  Jakins  two  Indians,  Sabatis  and  Eneas, 
each  with  a  letter,  one  to  General  Schuyler  and  the  other 
to  friends  in  Quebec,  announcing  to  the  former  his  plan 
of  cooperation,  and  asking  information  of  the  latter  con- 
cerning the  number  of  troops  in  the  Canadian  capital, 
what  ships  were  there,  and  what  were  the  dispositions  of 
the  merchants.  One  of  the  Indians  (Eneas)  proved  faith- 
less. He  delivered  Arnold's  letter  into  the  hands  of  the 
lieutenant-governor  of  the  province,*  and  Schuyler  never 
received  the  communication  directed  to  him. 

The  main  body  of  the  army  were  now  on  the  Dead 
Eiver,  a  deep  and  sluggish  stream,  as  its  name  imports. 
They  followed  it  eighty  miles,  making  seventeen  portages 

*  These  letters  brought  the  friends  to  whom  they  were  addressed  into 
trouble.  One  of  them,  John  Dyer  Mercier,  a  merchant,  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  on  suspicions  of  treason.  A  gentleman  in  Quebec,  writing  to  a 
friend  on  the  9th  of  November,  said,  in  relation  to  Mr.  Mercier:  "On  Satur- 
day, the  28th  of  October,  while  he  was  going  into  the  Upper  Town,  he  was 
laid  hold  of  by  the  Town  Sergeant,  and  conducted  to  the  main-guard,  and 
there  confined,  and  his  papers  were  seized  and  examined  merely  by  the  order 
of  the  lieutenant-governor,  without  any  crime  or  accusation  alleged  against 
him,  and  at  day-break  the  next  morning  he  was  put  on  board  the  Hunter 


454  PHILIP     SCHUYLER 


|>Et.  42. 


at  falls,  until  they  reached  the  timber-clogged  ponds  at  its 
sources.  Up  to  this  time  the  salmon-trout  had  been 
caught  in  such  abundance  that  there  had  been  no  lack  of 
food  ;  but  now  a  scarcity  began.  They  made  their  way 
through  these  ponds  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  toward 
the  great  carrying  place  to  the  Chaudiere,  which  they 
reached  on  the  26th.  There,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake 
Megan  tic,  is  the  summit  of  the  water-shed  between  Canada 
and  New  England. 

The  fatigue  and  privation  suffered  during  this  portion 
of  the  journey,  which  occupied  ten  or  twelve  days,  were 
terrible.  The  records  of  them  have  no  parallel  in  history. 
"The  company,"  says  a  private  soldier  in  his  journal, 
"  were  ten  miles  wading  knee  deep,  among  alders  the 
greatest  part  of  the  way,  and  came  to  a  river  which  had 
overflowed  the  land.  We  stopped  some  time,  not  knowing 
what  to  do,  and  at  last  were  obliged  to  wade  through  it, 
the  ground  giving  way  under  us  at  every  step.  We  got 
on  a  little  knoll  of  land  and  went  ten  miles,  where  we  were 
obliged  to  stay,  night  coming  on  ;  and  we  were  all  cold  and 
wet.  One  man  fainted  in  the  water  with  cold  and  fatigue, 
but  was  helped  along.  We  had  to  wade  into  the  water 
and  chop  down  trees,  and  fetch  the  wood  out  of  the  water, 
after  dark,  to  make  a  fire  to  dry  ourselves.  However,  at  last 
we  got  a  fire,  and  after  eating  a  mouthful  of  fish,  laid  our- 
selves down  to  sleep  around  the  fire,  the  water  surround- 

sloop-of-war.  This  was  very  alarming  to  the  citizens  of  Quebec,  who  there- 
upon had  a  meeting,  and  appointed  three  of  their  number  to  wait  on  the 
lieutenant-governor  to  know  the  cause  of  so  remarkable  a  step.  He  made 
answer  that  he  had  sufficient  reasons  for  what  he  had  done,  which  he  would 
communicate  when  and  to  whom  he  should  think  proper.  But  he  soon 
thought  better  of  it ;  for  the  next  morning  he  called  together  the  six  captains  of 
the  British  militia,  and  communicated  to  them  one  or  more  intercepted  letters, 
directed  to  Mr.  Mercier,  of  a  nature  that  was  sufficient  to  warrant  his  being  se- 
cured for  the  safety  of  the  town." — American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  iii.,  1419. 


17*75.]      SUFFERINGS     IN     THE     WILDERNESS.         455 

ing  us  close  to  our  heads.     If  it  had  rained  hard  it  would 
have  overflowed  the  place  we  were  on."* 

While  on  this  dreadfal  journey,  intelligence  came  to 
Arnold  that  Lieutenant-Colonel  Enos  had  deserted  the  ex- 
pedition, and  with  three  companies  had  returned  to  Cam- 
bridge. By  rare  good  fortune  Enos  escaped  punishment,  the 
friendly  court-martial  that  tried  him  having  found  an  excuse 
for  his  return  because  his  provisions  had  given  out.  But 
the  remainder  of  the  battalion,  notwithstanding  this  ma- 
terial diminution  of  their  strength,  pressed  forward  in  the 
midst  of  privations,  of  which  Enos  and  his  troops  had  no 
conceptions.  The  winter  was  coming  rapidly  on.  The 
mountains  were  covered  with  snow,  and  yet  their  course, 
for  many  a  weary  league,  lay  northward.  Over  those  bleak 
Highlands  they  wandered,  exposed  days  and  nights  to 
drenching  rains,  sometimes  mixed  with  snow,  their  clothes 
torn  and  their  flesh  lacerated  by  shrubs  and  -thorns  ;  some 
walking  whole  hours  barefooted,  and  sleeping  with  no 
other  covering  but  the  wet  branches  of  the  evergreens. 
Worse  than  all,  their  provisions  failed,  and  dogs'  meat 
became  a  luxury.  Some  of  the  poor  sufferers  carefully 
washed  their  moose-skin  moccasins  and  boiled  them,  with 

*  Senter's  Journal. — Judge  Joseph  Heniy,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  in  this 
expedition,  and  wrote  a  narrative  of  it.  He  speaks  of  two  women  who  had 
followed  their  husbands,  and  who  exhibited  the  most  remarkable  fortitude  and 
endurance  in  this  portion  of  the  march.  "  One  was  the  wife  of  Sergeant 
Grier,"  says  Henry,  "a  large,  virtuous,  and  respectable  woman."  The  other 
was  the  wife  of  a  common  soldier,  named  Warner.  "  Entering  the  ponds," 
says  Henry,  "and  breaking  the  ice  here  and  there  with  the  butts  of  our 
guns  and  feet,  we  were  soon  waist-deep  in  mud  and  water.  As  is  generally 
the  case  with  youths,  it  came  to  .my  mind  that  a  better  path  might  bo  found 
than  that  of  the  more  elderly  guide.  Attempting  this,  the  water  in  a  trice 
cooling  my  arm-pits,  made  me  gladly  return  in  the  lile.  Now  Mrs.  Grier 
had  got  before  me.  My  mind  was  humbled,  yet  astonished,  at  the  exertions 
of  this  good  woman.  Her  clothes  were  then  waist  high.  She  waded  on 
before  me,  to  firm  ground.  Not  one,  so  long  as  she  was  known  to  us,  dared 
to  intimate  a  disrespectful  idea  of  her." 


456  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  4,2. 

the  hope  of  procuring  a  little  mucilage  to  appease  the  de- 
mands of  consuming  hunger.  To  such  straits  were  some 
of  Arnold's  party  reduced,  after  having  hauled  up  their 
boats,  with  baggage  and  provisions,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  miles,  and  carried  them  on  their  shoulders  nearly 
forty  miles. 

On  the  borders  of  Lake  Megantic,  the  chief  source  of 
the  Chaudiere,  Arnold  and  a  large  portion  of  the  expedi- 
tion found  Jakins,  who  brought  back  intelligence  of  the 
friendly  disposition  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  Chaudiere 
Valley.  Inspirited  by  this  information,  he  prepared  to 
descend  the  river  immediately.  It  was  a  fearful  voyage. 
The  water  rushed  toward  the  St.  Lawrence  with  rapid 
current,  sometimes  foaming  over  rough  rocky  bottoms,  and 
sometimes  leaping,  in  cascades,  beautiful  to  the  eye  but 
perilous  to  the  voyager.  Boats  were  overturned,  and  am- 
munition and  precious  stores  were  lost.  Perils  quite  as 
formidable  as  those  they  had  passed  were  again  gathering 
around  them,  when  the  lowing  of  cattle  fell  upon  their 
ears  as  sweetly  as  the  most  ravishing  music,  for  it  assured 
them  of  life.  Two  Canadians,  on  horses,  had  come  up 
from  the  settlement  with  five  oxen.  These  were  timely 
relief ;  and  the  republicans,  in  their  joy,  fired  a  salute.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  days  every  fragment  of  the  broken 
battalion  that  survived  the  horrors  of  the  wilderness,  em- 
erged from  the  forests,  and  gazed  with  delight  upon  the  roofs 
of  the  dwellings  and  the  spire  of  the  parish  church  at  Ser- 
tigan,  a  settlement  twenty-five  leagues  from  Quebec.  There 
the  troops  rendezvoused  and  rested  ;  and  from  there  Arnold 
sent  young  Burr  with  a  verbal  message  to  Montgomery, 
who,  on  the  29th  of  October,  had  written  to  him  from  St. 
John's.  All  the  letters  that  Arnold  had  sent  to  Schuyler, 
while  on  his  march,  had  miscarried — been  intercepted  or 


m5.]       ARNOLD     ON     THE     ST.     LAWRENCE.         457 

betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  But  young  Burr, 
disguised  as  a  priest,  and  speaking  both  French  and  Latin 
pretty  well,  passed  through  the  country  unsuspected,  and 
conveyed  all  necessary  information  to  Montgomery.  Be- 
fore the  youthful  ambassador's  arrival  the  general  was  a 
victor  at  Montreal. 

Montgomery  had  already  been  apprised,  through  inter- 
cepted letters,  of  Arnold's  approach,  and  was  very  anxi- 
ously waiting  for  a  dispatch  from  his  own  hand.  It  came 
on  the  17th,  a  few  days  after  Burr's  arrival,  accompanied 
by  a  letter  for  General  Washington.  Montgomery  was 
charmed  by  the  manners,  intelligence,  and  enthusiasm  of 
young  Burr,  and  invited  him  to  remain  at  head-quarters. 
He  did  so,  and  was  with  the  general  at  Quebec,  as  his  aide- 
de-camp. 

Arnold  was  joined  at  Sertigan  by  about  forty  Norridge- 
wock  Indians,  and,  in  the  face  of  a  severe  snow  storm,  set 
out  for  Point  Levi,  opposite  Quebec.  The  fertile  valley 
of  the  Chaudiere  was  rilled  with  friendly  inhabitants,  and 
abundant  provisions  might  be  obtained.  The  troops  were 
in  excellent  spirits,  for  they  believed  they  would  speedily 
share  in  the  glory  of  taking  possession  of  Quebec.  They 
were  perfectly  orderly,  and  Arnold  was  enabled  to  carry 
out  the  most  strict  provisions  of  Washington's  instruc- 
tions, in  regulating  the  conduct  of  his  troops  toward  the 
Canadians.  His  approach  to  Quebec  was  known  two  or 
three  days  before  his  appearance  ;  and  when,  on  the  9th, 
he  reached  Point  Levi,  the  snow  yet  falling,  and  several 
inches  deep,  every  boat  had  been  removed  from  that  side 
of  the  river  or  destroyed.  Here  was  the  termination  of  the 
toils  of  travel.  They  had  journeyed  over  three  hundred 
miles,  most  of  the  way  through  a  gloomy  wilderness.     For 

thirty-two  days  they  did  not  meet  a  human  being ;  and 

20 


458  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

their  preservation  in  the  midst  of  fearful  and  multifarious 
dangers  seemed  like  a  miracle. 

Until  within  two  days  nobody  at  Quebec  believed  that 
the  little  band  whom  they  had  heard  of  as  struggling  with 
the  storms  in  the  wilderness,  would  ever  reach  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Cramahe',  the  lieutenant-governor,  laughed  at 
the  idea  of  such  an  invasion  ;  and,  when  early  in  the 
morning  of  the  9th,  the  little  army  stood  behind  the  vail 
of  falling  snow,  upon  the  heights  above  Point  Levi,  they 
appeared  like  specters  to  the  startled  inhabitants  of  the 
capital.  The  drums  immediately  beat  to  arms,  for  some 
who  had  crossed  the  river  to  Point  Levi  with  the  intelli- 
gence, taking  counsel  of  their  fears,  greatly  magnified  the 
number  of  the  republicans.  And  by  a  mistake  in  a  single 
word  the  alarm  of  the  people  was  greatly  increased,  for  the 
news  spread  that  the  mysterious  army  which  had  descended 
from  the  wilderness  or  had  fallen  from  a  cloud,  were  clad 
in  sheet-iron  !  Morgan's  riflemen,  with  their  linen  frocks, 
had  been  first  seen.  "  They  are  vetu  en  toilc"  (clothed  in 
linen  cloth),  exclaimed  the  Canadian  messengers  of  alarm. 
The  last  word  was  mistaken  for  tole  (iron  plate),  and 
thus  occurred  the  mistake  that  created  a  fearful  panic  in 
Quebec. 

While  waiting  for  the  rear  of  his  troops  to  come  up, 
Arnold  employed  Canadian  carpenters  in  making  ladders, 
and  his  men  in  collecting  canoes,  and  on  the  14th  he  wrote 
to  Montgomery,  saying  : 

"  The  wind  has  been  so  high  these  three  nights  that  I  have  not 
been  able  to  cross  the  river.  I  have  nearly  forty  canoes  ready,  and,  as 
the  wind  has  moderated,  I  design  crossing  this  evening.  The  Hunter 
(sloop)  and  Lizard  (frigate),  lie  opposite  to  prevent  us,  but  make  no 
doubt  I  shall  be  able  to  avoid  them.  I  this  moment  received  the  agree- 
able intelligence,  via  Sorel,  that  you  are  in  possession  of  St.  John's,  and 
have  invested  Montreal.      I  can  give  no  intelligence,  save  that  the 


17*75.]  MONTREAL     INVESTED.  459 

merchant  ships  are  busy,  day  and  night,  in  loading,  and  four  have 
already  sailed."* 

Here  we  will  leave  Arnold,  while  considering  the  posi- 
tion of  Montgomery  and  his  army,  whom  we  left  victors  at 
St.  John's. 

Inclement  weather  and  insubordination  among  the 
troops  retarded  Montgomery's  march  upon  Montreal,  and 
he  did  not  arrive  before  it  until  the  I2th  of  November. 
Major  Henry  B.  Livingston  had  been  sent  forward  toward 
Caughnawaga,  with  one  hundred  men  of  Colonel  James 
Clinton's  regiment,  to  protect  the  friendly  Indians,  but 
found  them  under  no  apprehensions. 

"  I  sent  for  them,'fc  he  says,  "  as  soon  as  I  came  in  town  [Laprairie], 
to  know  whether  they  wanted  us  at  their  castle  or  not.  The  chiefs 
told  me  that  General  Montgomery  had  been  imposed  upon  by  some  of 
their  meaner  people,  who  had  been  frightened  at  nothing — that  they 
feared  no  invasion  from  Mr.  Carleton  at  all,  and  if  he  did  attack  them, 
they  thought  themselves  able,  without  assistance  from  abroad,  to  de- 
feat him."t 

It  was  with  much  difficulty  that  Montgomery  per- 
suaded many  of  the  troops  to  advance  with  him.  "  I  was 
obliged,  at  St.  John's,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  to  promise 
all  such  their  dismission  as  choose  it,  to  coax  them  to 
Montreal.  Indeed,  Wooster's  regiment  showed  the  great- 
est uneasiness."J  Most  of  his  troops  finally  agreed  to  ac- 
company him,  and  he  moved  toward  Laprairie  on  the 
6th.§     The  inhabitants  of  Montreal,  informed  of  this,  be- 

*  Livingston's  MS.  Journal 

f  Autograph  Letter.  Nov.  14,  1775.     \  Autograph  Letter,  Nov.  13,  1775. 

§  Major  Livingston  made  the  following  entry  in  his  Diary,  at  Laprairie  : 

"  Nov.  6. — General  Montgomery  arrived  in  town  at  two  o'clock,  and  at 
different  times  of  the  day,  the  first  of  our  battalion. 

"  7. — General  Wooster  and  Colonel  Waterbury,  with  their  regiments  and 
part  of  the  fourth  battalion,  came  in  town  this  afternoon,  and  encamped  in 
the  fields  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  town. 


460  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  42. 

came  greatly  alarmed,  and  on  the  7th  the  merchants  of 
that  city  held  a  council,  and  then  waited  upon  Governor 
Carleton  to  ascertain  his  views  concerning  a  defense  of  the 
town.  Deeply  chagrined  because  of  the  evident  disloyalty 
of  the  French  inhabitants,  Carleton  told  them  that  he 
should  quit  the  place  in  a  day  or  two,  and  that  they  might 
take  care  of  themselves.  They  instantly  determined  to 
apply  to  General  Montgomery  for  protection,  and  for  that 
purpose  a  deputation  was  appointed  to  meet  him  at  La- 
prairie.  This  was  prevented  by  Carleton,  who  had  re- 
solved to  force  the  inhabitants  into  resistance.  But  when 
the  governor  saw  Montgomery  approaching  in  force,  he 
fled  in  alarm,  with  the  garrison,  on  board  a  flotilla  of  ten 
or  eleven  small  vessels  lying  in  the  river,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  escaping  to  Quebec.  He  took  with  him  the  powder 
and  other  important  stores.  Perceiving  this  movement, 
Montgomery  dispatched  Colonel  Easton,  with  Continental 
troops,  cannon,  and  armed  gondolas,  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Sorel,  to  intercept  the  flotilla  in  its  passage  down  the 
river.  At  the  same  time  he  crossed  the  St.  Lawrence,  sat 
down  before  the  town,  and  sent  in  the  following  letter,  ad- 
dressed to  those  citizens  who  had  been  appointed  by  the 
merchants  to  negotiate  with  him  : 

"  9. — Captain  Lamb  and  his  company  came  in  with  six  field  pieces  (brass), 
taken  from  the  enemy  at  St.  John's. 

"  10. — Thirteen  batteaux  were  conveyed  from  Chamblee,  almost  all  the 
way  by  land,  to  a  stream  of  water  two  miles  east  of  Laprairie,  and  from 
thence  brought  to  the  landing  by  the  town. 

"  1 1. — At  nine  this  morning,  the  General,  Colonel  Waterbury's  regiment, 
some  of  the  first  battalion,  and  a  few  of  the  fourth  battalion,  and  General 
"Wooster's  regiment,  in  all  about  five  hundred  men,  with  six  field  pieces, 
crossed  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  landed  on  Isle  St.  Paul,  directly  opposite 
Laprairie,  and  one  and  a  half  miles  from  Montreal.  As  soon  as  Governor 
Carleton  saw  our  people  embark,  he  ordered  all  his  regulars  on  board  the 
vessels  he  had  lying  at  Montreal,  and  fled  down  the  river." — Livingstones  MS. 
Journal 


1775.]  REPUBLICANS     VICTORIOUS.  461 

Gentlemen : — My  anxiety  for  the  fate  of  Montreal  induces  me  to  re- 
quest that  you  will  exert  yourselves  among  the  inhabitants  to  prevail 
on  them  to  enter  into  such  measures  as  will  prevent  the  necessity  of 
opening  my  batteries  on  the  town.  When  I  consider  the  dreadful  con- 
sequences of  a  bombardment,  the  distress  that  must  attend  a  fire  (at 
this  season  especially),  when  it  is  too  late  to  repair  the  damage  which 
must  ensue,  how  many  innocent  people  must  suffer,  and  that  the  firm 
friends  of  liberty  must  be  involved  in  one  common  ruin  with  the  wicked 
tools  of  despotism,  my  heart  bleeds  at  the  dire  necessity  which  compels 
me  to  distress  that  unfortunate  city.  I  conjure  you,  by  all  the  ties  of 
humanity,  to  take  every  possible  step  to  soften  the  heart  of  the  gover- 
nor ;  for  he,  if  he  be  sincere  in  his  professions  to  the  people  committed 
to  his  charge,  must  commiserate  their  condition.  In  vain  will  he  per- 
sist in  a  resistance,  which  can  only  be  attended  with  misery  to  the  in- 
habitants, and  with  lasting  disgrace  to  his  own  humanity." 

To  this  lie  added,  in  a  postscript : 

"  I  have  just  heard  that  it  has  been  falsely  and  scandalously  reported 
that  our  intentions  are  to  plunder  the  inhabitants.  I  have  only  to  ap- 
peal to  your  own  observation,  whether  such  a  proceeding  be  consistent 
with  our  conduct  since  we  have  entered  this  province." 

The  governor  and  the  garrison  had  fled,  and  Mont- 
gomery encountered  no  resistance.  He  marched  into  the 
city  cheered  by  many  greetings,  and  won  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  the  inhabitants  by  his  kindness,  toleration,  and 
humanity.  He  found  there  a  great  quantity  of  woolen 
goods  with  which  he  prepared  his  troops  for  the  rigors  of  a 
Canadian  winter,  and  at  the  same  time  shocked  the  Puri- 
tan prejudices  of  the  New  England  soldiers  by  his  courtesy 
to  the  functionaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church — a 
proceeding  which  the  highest  policy  as  well  as  the  best 
feelings  of  human  nature  sanctioned. 

"  I  have  had,"  Montgomery  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  some  conversation 
with  Pere  Flaquet,  a  Jesuit,  at  the  head  of  the  society  here,  and  es- 
teemed a  very  sensible  fellow.  He  complained  of  some  little  indignities 
shown  their  order,  particularly  in  making  part  of  their  house  the  com- 
mon prison,  by  his  majesty's  governors.  I  promised  redress,  and  hinted, 
at  the  same  time,  the  great  probability  of  that  society  enjoying  their 


462  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  42 

estates  (notwithstanding  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst's  pretensions)  should  this 
province  accede  to  the  general  union.  I  hope  this  hint  may  be  of  serv- 
ice, the  priests  hitherto  having  done  us  all  the  mischief  in  their  power  in 
many  parishes.  They  will  not  give  the  people  absolution.  However,  I 
have  shown  all  the  respect  in  my  power  to  religion,  and  have  winked 
at  the  behavior  in  the  priests  for  fear  of  giving  malice  a  handle."* 

Montgomery  also  assured  the  inhabitants  that  the 
.Continental  Congress  would  be  mindful  of  their  political 
rights,  and  that  as  soon  as  he  had  effected  the  complete 
conquest  of  the  province,  by  taking  Quebec,  he  should  re- 
turn and  call  a  convention  of  the  people. 

Contrary  winds  had  detained  Carleton's  flotilla,  and 
gave  Easton  an  opportunity  to  well  prepare  for  opposing 
him.  He  posted  his  troops  so  advantageously,  with  six 
cannon  in  battery,  and  two  armed  row-galleys  in  the  river, 
that  the  enemy  were  easily  kept  at  bay. 

Montgomery  meanwhile  prepared  to  attack  them  with 
field  artillery,  mounted  in  batteaux,  but  before  he  could 
effect  that  object  Easton  captured  the  little  fleet.  General 
Prescott,  the  commander  of  Montreal,  and  several  officers, 
some  members  of  the  Canadian  council,  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty  private  soldiers,  with  all  the  vessels  and  stores, 
were  surrendered  by  capitulation.  But  Carleton,  disguised 
as  a  Canadian  voyageur,  and  under  cover  of  darkness,  had 
escaped  the  previous  night,  in  a  boat  rowed  by  himself 
and  others,  with  muffled  oars,  and  soon  reached  Quebec  in 
safety,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  loyal  inhabitants  there,  who 
had  been  trembling  in  the  presence  of  Arnold. 

The  spoils  of  this  little  victory  were,  quite  a  large 
quantity  of  provisions,  three  barrels  of  powder,  four  can- 
non, artillery  ammunition,  a  quantity  of  small  arms,  balls, 
musket-cartridges,  two  hundred  pairs  of  shoes,  and  some 

*  Autograph  letter,  Nov.  19,  1775. 


1775.]  MONTGOMERY'S     APPEAL.  463 

intrenching  tools.  Among  the  vessels  captured  was  the 
Gaspe,  Colonel  Allen's  prison  ship,  which  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Cheeseman,  of  McDougalPs 
regiment,  who  fell  at  Quebec  a  few  weeks  later. 

Montgomery  now  placed  a  garrison  at  St.  John's, 
under  Captain  Marinus  Willett ;  another  in  the  fort  at 
Chamblee  ;  gave  Wooster  the  command  at  Montreal,  and 
prepared  to  push  forward  to  Quebec  ;  for  he  said,  without 
that  city,  "Canada  remains  unconquered."  "By  inter- 
cepted letters,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  I  am  informed 
that  the  king's  troops  are  exceedingly  alarmed  by  the 
presence  of  Arnold,  and  expect  to  be  besieged,  which, 
by  the  blessing  of  Grod,  they  shall  be,  if  the  severe  season 
holds  off,  and  I  can  prevail  on  the  troops  to  accompany 
me."* 

"  The  inhabitants,"  he  wrote  a  little  later,  "  are  our  friends  on  both 
sides  of  the  river,  to  Quebec.  Our  expresses  go  without  interruption, 
backward  and  forward.  A  young  man  who  has  got  out  of  Quebec, 
informs  me  that  the  lieutenant-governor,  the  chief  justice,  and  several 
others,  have  put  their  baggage  on  board  ship,  and  that  no  ship  is  per- 
mitted to  sail.     This  looks  as  if  they  despaired  of  making  a  defense."! 

Having  formed  his  plans,  Montgomery  issued  the  fol- 
lowing proclamation,  on  the  15th  of  November,  signed  by 
his  aid-de-camp,  James  Van  Rensselaer  : 

"  The  general  embraces  this  happy  occasion  of  making  his  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  troops  for  their  patience  and  perseverance  during  the 
course  of  a  fatiguing  campaign.  They  merit  the  applause  of  their  grate- 
ful countrymen.  He  is  now  ready  to  fulfill  the  engagements  of  the 
public.  Passes,  together  with  boats  and  provisions,  shall  be  furnished 
upon  application  from  the  commanding  officers  of  regiments,  for  such 
as  choose  to  return  home;  yet  he  entreats  the  troops  not  to  lay  him 
under  the  necessity  of  abandoning  Canada ;  of  undoing  in  one  day  what 
has  been  the  work  of  months ;  of  restoring  to  an  enraged,  and  hitherto 
disappointed  enemy,  the  means  of  carrying  on  a  cruel  war  into  the  very 

•  Autograph  letter,  Nov.  13,  1775.         f  Autograph  letter,  Nov.  19,  1775. 


464  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^1t.  42. 

bowels  of  their  country.  Impressed  with  a  just  sense  of  the  spirit  of 
the  troops ;  their  attachment  to  the  interests  of  the  united  colonies,  and 
of  their  regard  to  their  own  honor,  he  natters  himself  that  none  will 
leave  him  at  this  critical  juncture,  but  such  whose  affairs  or  health  ab- 
solutely require  their  return  home. 

"  He  has  still  hope,  notwithstanding  the  advanced  season  of  the 
year,  should  he  be  seconded  by  the  generous  valor  of  the  troops,  hitherto 
highly  favored  by  Providence,  to  reduce  Quebec,  in  conjunction  with 
the  troops  which  have  penetrated  by  the  Kennebec  River,  and  hereby 
deprive  the  ministerial  army  of  all  their  footing  in  this  important  prov- 
ince. 

"  Those  who  engage  in  this  honorable  cause  shall  be  furnished  com- 
pletely with  every  article  of  clothing  requisite  for  the  rigor  of  the 
climate — blanket-coats,  coats,  waistcoat,  and  breeches,  one  pair  of  stock- 
ings, two  shirts,  leggings,  sacks,  shoes,  mittens,  and  a  cap,  at  the  Con- 
tinental charge,  and  one  dollar  bounty.  The  troops  are  only  requested 
to  engage  to  the  15th  of  April.  They  shall  be  discharged  sooner  if  the 
expected  reenforcement  arrives  before  that  time." 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

General  Montgomery  found  a  large  proportion  of 
the  troops  indisposed  to  comply  with  his  invitation  to  ac- 
company him  to  Quebec  ;  and  many  precious  days — days 
composed  of  those  golden  moments  of  opportunity  that 
might  have  secured  victory — passed  by,  while  he  was  en- 
gaged in  futile  endeavors  to  persuade  the  New  Englanders, 
whose  terms  of  service  had  expired,  to  reenlist.  Even 
those  who  had  yet  a  short  time  to  serve  became  turbulent, 
and  some  absolutely  refused  to  go  another  step  forward. 
Home-sickness,  a  most  natural  malady  under  the  circum- 
stances, took  possession  of  whole  companies  ;  and  day  after 
day  they  left  the  camp  in  groups,  and  made  their  way  up 
Lake  Champlain  to  Ticonderoga,  to  receive  their  discharge 
from  General  Schuyler.  "  I  believe,"  wrote  that  officer  to 
Montgomery,  on  the  18th  of  November,  "  that  you  have 
few  of  the  New  England  troops  left,  as  near  three  hundred 
have  passed  here  within  these  few  days,  and  so  very  impa- 
tient to  get  home  that  many  have  gone  from  here  by  land/' 

To  the  Continental  Congress  Schuyler  wrote,  on  the 
20th,  saying: 

"  Our  army  in  Canada  is  daily  reducing — about  three  hundred  of  the 
troops  raised  in  Connecticut  having  passed  here  within  a  few  days — so 
that  I  believe  not  more  than  six  hundred  and  fifty  or  seven  hundred  from 
that  colony  are  left.  From  the  different  New  York  regiments  about 
forty  are  also  lately  come  away.  An  unhappy  home-sickness  prevails. 
Those  mentioned  above  all  came  down  as  invalids,  not  one  willing  to 

20* 


466  PHILIP     SCHUYLER 


[Ml.  42. 


reengage  for  the  winter  service.  Unable  to  get  any  work  done  by 
them,  I  discharged  them  in  groups.  Of  all  the  specifics  ever  invented 
for  any,  there  is  none  so  efficacious  as  a  discharge  for  this  prevailing 
disorder.  No  sooner  was  it  administered  but  it  perfected  the  cure  of 
nine  out  of  ten,  who,  refusing  to  wait  for  boats  to  go  by  the  way  of 
Lake  George,  slung  their  heavy  packs,  crossed  the  lake  at  this  place, 
and  undertook  a  march  of  two  hundred  miles,  with  the  greatest  good 
will  and  alacrity.1'  He  added :  "  The  most  scandalous  inattention  to 
the  public  stores  prevails  in  every  part  of  the  army.  The  tents  are  left 
lying  in  the  boats ;  axes,  kettles,  etc.,  lost,  and  every  thing  running 
into  confusion.  The  only  attention  that  engrosses  the  minds  of  the 
soldiery  is,  how  to  get  home  the  soonest  possible.  Nothing,  sir.  will 
ever  put  a  stop  to  this  shameful  negligence  but  obliging  the  officers  to 
pay  for  what  is  not  accounted  for,  and  let  them  deduct  it  out  of  the 
men's  wages.  They  can  not  think  this  a  hardship,  as  they  were  in- 
formed by  me  that  every  article  that  was  issued  to  them  should  be  re- 
turned into  store,  or  properly  accounted  for.  If  they  were  suffered  to 
do  it  with  impunity  this  year,  it  will  be  the  same  next."* 

Washington  was  also  experiencing  trouble  at  this  time 
with  the  New  England  troops. 

"  Such  a  dearth  of  public  spirit,  and  such  a  want  of  virtue — such  a 
stock-jobbing  and  fertility  in  all  the  low  arts  to  obtain  advantages  of 
one  kind  or  another  in  this  great  change  of  military  arrangement — I 
never  saw  before,"  he  wrote  to  the  Continental  Congress,  "  and  pray 
God's  mercy  that  I  may  never  be  witness  to  again.  What  will  be  the 
end  of  these  maneuvers  is  beyond  my  scan.  I  tremble  at  the  prospect. 
*  *  *  *  The  Connecticut  troops  will  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  stay 
longer  than  their  term,  saving  those  who  have  enlisted  for  the  next 
campaign  and  are  mostly  on  furlough  ;  and  such  a  mercenary  spirit  per- 
vades the  whole,  that  I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  at  any  disaster 
that  may  happen."! 

Having  complained  of  their  conduct  to  Governor  Trum- 
bull, informing  him  of  their  leaving  in  great  numbers,  and 
carrying  with  them,  in  many  instances,  the  arms  and 
ammunition  belonging  to  the  public,  that  functionary, 
whose  views  of  patriotic  duty  were  not  bounded  by  the 
outlines  of  his  own  province,  wrote  : 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 

f  Sparks's  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington,  iil,  178. 


1715.]  INHUMANITY     REBUKED.  467 

"  The  late  extraordinary  and  reprehensible  conduct  of  some  of  the 
troops  of  this  colony  impresses  me,  and  the  minds  of  many  of  our  peo- 
ple, with  grief,  surprise,  and  indignation,  since  the  treatment  they  met 
with,  and  the  order  and  request  made  to  them  [to  remain  until  the  ar- 
rival of  other  troops,  already  engaged],  were  so  reasonable,  and  ap- 
parently necessary,  for  the  defense  of  our  common  cause  and  safety  of 
our  rights  and  privileges  for  which  they  freely  engaged ;  the  term 
they  voluntarily  enlisted  to  serve  not  expired,  and  probably  would  not 
end  much  before  the  time  when  they  would  be  relieved,  provided  their 
circumstances  and  inclination  should  prevent  their  undertaking  further." 
He  added,  apologetically :  "  Indeed  there  is  great  difficulty  to  support 
liberty,  to  exercise  government,  to  maintain  subordination,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  prevent  the  operation  of  licentious  and  levelling  principles 
which  many  very  easily  imbibe.  The  pulse  of  a  New  England  man 
beats  high  for  liberty  ;  his  engagement  in  the  service  he  thinks  purely 
voluntary ;  therefore  when  his  term  of  enlistment  is  out  he  thinks  him- 
self not  holden  without  further  engagement."* 


*o~o- 


At  about  this  time  a  circumstance  occurred  at  Ticonder- 
oga,  which  increased  the  ill-feeling  of  some  of  the  Connect- 
icut troops  toward  General  Schuyler.  The  prisoners  taken 
at  Chamblee  and  St.  John's,  as  we  have  seen,  were  sent  to 
Schuyler  for  his  final  disposition  of  them.  A  schooner 
and  row-galley,  with  more  than  one  hundred  persons,  many 
of  them  prisoners,  and  quite  a  number  of  women  and  chil- 
dren, from  Canada,  arrived  at  Crown  Point  late  in  Novem- 
ber. The  ice  prevented  their  reaching  Ticonderoga,  and 
they  became  destitute  of  provisions.  In  that  perilous  hour 
they  sent  an  express  to  General  Schuyler  imploring  relief. 
He  immediately  ordered  three  captains  of  Wooster's  regi- 
ment who  were  at  that  post  with  a  considerable  body  of 
men,  to  attempt  the  relief  of  the  sufferers.  They  mani- 
fested much  unwillingness  to  go,  and  made  many  frivolous 
excuses.  This  display  of  selfish  inhumanity  disgusted  and 
irritated  the  benevolent  and  high-minded  Schuyler,  and  in 
a  public  order,  on  the  following  day  (November  29th),  he 

*  Spark's  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington,  iii.,  183.  Note. 


468  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JRt.  42. 

mentioned  the  circumstances,  and  named  the  three  cap- 
tains (Porter,  Arnold,  and  Peck),  and  said  :  "  The  general, 
therefore,  not  daring  to  trust  a  matter  of  so  much  import- 
ance to  men  of  so  little  feeling,  has  ordered  Lieutenant 
Kiker,  of  Colonel  Holmes's  regiment,  to  make  the  attempt. 
He  received  the  order  with  the  alacrity  becoming  a  gentle- 
man, an  officer,  and  a  Christian."* 

This  was  a  severe  but  merited  rebuke  ;  and  these 
officers  were  loud  in  their  denunciations  of  Schuyler  in 
the  willing  ears  of  their  superiors. 

November  was  passing  away,  and  Montgomery  was  yet 
at  Montreal.  "  I  am  ashamed,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler,  on 
the  24th,  "  of  dating  my  letter  from  hence.  You  will  no 
doubt  be  surprised  at  my  long  stay  here,  but  day  after  day 
have  I  been  delayed,  without  a  possibility  of  getting  to 
Arnold's  assistance.  To-morrow,  I  believe,  I  shall  sail 
with  two  or  three  hundred  men,  some  mortars,  and  other 
artillery." 

Montgomery  had  just  heard  that  Lieutenant  Halsey, 
of  Waterbury's  regiment,  whom  he  had  left  as  assistant 
engineer,  to  put  up  barracks  at  St.  John's,  had  not  only 
been  chiefly  instrumental  in  urging  the  Connecticut  troops 
to  leave  for  home,  but  had  "  run  away  without  leave," 
taking  with  him  the  artificers  Montgomery  had  left  to 
carry  on  the  work.  While  greatly  annoyed  by  this  infor- 
mation, he  was  subjected  to  the  indignity  of  remonstrances 
from  several  of  his  officers  because  he  had  shown  certain 
humane  indulgences  to  British  prisoners  in  his  possession. 
"  Such  an  insult,"  he  wrote,  "  I  could  not  bear,  and  im- 
mediately resigned.  However,  they  have  to-day  qualified 
it,  by  such  an  apology  as  puts  it  in  my  power  to  resume 
the  command  with  some  propriety,  and  I  have  promised 
*  Schuyler's  MS.  Orderly  Book. 


m5.]        TURBULENCE     AND     DESERTION.         469 

to  bury  it  in  oblivion.  Captain  Lamb,  who  is  a  restless 
genius,  and  of  a  bad  temper,  was  at  the  head  of  it.  He 
has  been  used  to  haranguing  his  fellow-citizens  in  New 
York,  and  can  not  restrain  his  talent  here.  He  is  brave, 
active,  and  intelligent,  but  very  turbulent  and  trouble- 
some, and  not  to  be  satisfied/'* 

General  Schuyler  communicated  these  facts  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  saying : 

"  This  turbulent  and  mutinous  spirit  will  tend  to  the  ruin  of  our 
cause ;  and  the  necessity  of  checking  it  immediately,  and  taking  meas- 
ures to  prevent  it  in  future,  strikes  me  so  forcibly,  that  I  take  the  liberty 
to  observe  that  it  is  worthy  of  the  immediate  attention  of  Congress.  I 
speak  the  more  freely  on  this  subject,  as  I  would  not  wish  that  General 
Montgomery's  and  my  successors,  whoever  they  may  be,  should  lead 
the  disagreeable  lives  that  we  have."t 

Day  after  day  Montgomery's  little  army  dwindled, 
when  it  should  have  increased,  and  even  the  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys,  who  were  among  the  latest  to  join  the  expedi- 
tion as  an  organized  corps,  and  on  whose  promises  he  had 
relied,  left  him  "in  the  lurch/'  he  said,  at  the  moment 
of  his  greatest  need. 

"  It  may  be  asked,"  wrote  Schuyler  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
on  the  27th  of  November,  "  why  Warner's  regiment  was  suffered  to 
come  away,  and  some  other  of  the  troops  raised  in  this  colony,  as  the 
term  for  which  they  were  engaged  would  not  expire  until  the  last  day 
of  next  month  ?    The  unhappy  cause  is  this :  At  St.  John's  the  Con- 

*  Autograph  letter,  Nov.  24,  1775.  Montgomery  fully  appreciated  the 
value  of  Captain  Lamb  to  the  service.  Four  days  before,  he  had  written  to 
Schuyler  concerning  him,  saying:  "  I  have  had  some  difficulty  in  persuading 
him  to  stay.  He  says  the  pay  is  such  a  trifle  that  he  is  consuming  his  own 
property  to  maintain  himself,  and  that  by  and  by  his  family  must  starve  at 
home.  He  is  absolutely  necessary  with  this  army,  if  we  are  to  have  artillery. 
He  is  active,  spirited,  and  industrious ;  and  I  do  think  he  should  have  an  ap- 
pointment adequate  to  the  services  he  has  rendered.  I  have  entreated  him 
to  stay,  with  the  assurance  that  I  would  represent  his  circumstances  to  Con- 
gress.    I  hear  of  your  bad  health  with  the  most  real  concern." 

f  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 


470  PHILIP     SCHUYLER 


[^Et.  42. 


necticut  troops  were  so  very  importunate  to  return  home  that  General 
Montgomery  was  under  the  necessity  of  promising  that  all  those  that 
would  follow  him  to  Montreal  should  have  leave  to  return.  This  dec- 
laration he  could  not  confine  to  the  Connecticut  troops,  as  such  a  dis- 
crimination would  have  been  odious.  It  nrght  have  been  expected 
that  men,  influenced  by  a  love  of  liberty,  would  not  have  required  such 
a  promise,  and  that  others  to  whom  it  was  not  immediately  intended 
would  not  have  taken  the  advantage  of  it."* 

While  the  army  was  thus  melting,  the  Continental 
Congress  were  very  dilatory  in  furnishing  men  to  fill  the- 
vacancies,  notwithstanding  their  eagerness  to  possess  Can- 
ada ;  and  Montgomery  found  himself,  at  the  close  of 
November,  when  on  the  point  of  marching  to  Quebec,  in 
command  of  less  than  two  thousand  men  in  all  Canada, 
including  those  under  Arnold,  and  the  garrisons  to  be  left 
at  St.  John's,  Chamblee,  and  Montreal.  He  yearned  for 
relief,  yet  his  duty  to  his  adopted  country  would  not  per- 
mit him  to  leave  the  chief  command  of  the  army  in  the 
field  with  General  Wooster,  who,  Gates  wrote,  it  was  "  on 
all  hands  agreed,  was  too  infirm  for  that  service/'  "  Will 
not  your  health,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  permit  you  to 
reside  at  Montreal  this  winter  ?  I  must  go  home,  if  I 
walk  by  the  side  of  the  lake.  I  am  weary  of  power,  and 
totally  want  that  patience  and  temper  requisite  for  such  a 
command.  I  wish  exceedingly  for  a  respectable  .committee 
of  Congress.  I  really  have  not  weight  enough  to  carry  on 
business  by  myself.  I  wish  Lee  could  set  off  immediately 
for  the  command  here."f 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 

f  Autograph  letters.  Nov.  13-24.  Schuyler  and  Montgomery  had  both 
urged  the  Congress  to  send  a  committee  of  their  body  to  act  in  concert  with 
the  military  commander  in  the  northern  department,  in  the  management  of  the 
campaign,  and  in  the  formation  of  civil  government,  in  the  event  of  the  re- 
duction of  Canada,  or  in  the  arrangement  of  a  new  army  for  that  service,  if 
the  campaign  should  not  prove  successful. 

On  account  of  the  continued  ill  health  of  General  Schuyler  it  had  been 
proposed  to  make  General  Charles  Lee  commander-in-chief  of  the  northern 
department 


1775.]        SCHUYLER    RETURNS    TO    ALBANY.         471 

Schuyler's  health  would  not  permit  him  to  go  to  Mon- 
treal, nor  even  to  remain  at  Ticonderoga  ;  and  for  the 
purpose  of  rest  as  a  means  of  recovery,  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  for  his  home  at  Albany,  early  in  December.  He 
deeply  regretted  the  stern  necessity  that  deprived  him  of 
participation  in  the  toils,  dangers,  and  glory  of  the  con- 
quest of  Canada,  for  the  consummation  of  which  he  had  so 
earnestly  labored.  He  had  daily  and  hourly  afforded  Mont- 
gomery all  the  aid  in  his  power  ;  and  before  leaving  Ticon- 
deroga he  had  disposed  of  all  the  prisoners  sent  to  him, 
put  the  entire  service  on  as  good  footing  as  the  means  at 
his  command  would  allow,  and  arranged  every  thing  that 
might  facilitate  the  labors  of  Colonel  Knox  in  removing 
the  cannon,  mortars,  and  artillery  stores  from  Ticonderoga 
to  Boston,  on  which  service  he  had  been  sent  by  General 
Washington.  Leaving  the  post  of  Ticonderoga  in  charge 
of  Colonel  Holmes,  with  very  particular  instructions  for 
his  conduct,  he  proceeded  southward  by  the  way  of  Lake 
George  (at  the  head  of  which  he  met  Colonel  Knox),  and 
arrived  at  Albany  on  Thursday,  the  7th  of  December. 
On  Saturday,  the  9th,  he  addressed  the  following  note  to 
the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Albany  which  he  and  his  fam- 
ily attended  : 

"  G-eneral  Schuyler's  respectful  compliments  :  He  begs  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Westerlo  publicly  to  acknowledge  the  manifold  favors  he,  and  the  army 
under  his  command,  have  experienced  from  the  Fountain  of  all  Grace 
and  Mercy ;  and  while  he  approaches  the  throne  of  Heaven  with  a 
grateful  heart  for  mercies  past,  humbly  to  supplicate  a  continuance  of 
the  Divine  protection,  and  to  pray  for  a  speedy  and  a  happy  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  mother  country."* 

On  his  arrival  at  Albany,  Schuyler  found  about  sixty 
of  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians  waiting  for  him.  Mr. 
Douw  was  the  only  other  commissioner  present,  yet  the 

*  Autograph  draft  of  letter. 


472  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [J&T.  42. 

exigency  of  the  case  demanded  action,  and  Schuyler  and 
Douw  opened  business  with  them.  The  savages  had  com9 
to  testify  their  friendship,  -and  the  communications  which 
they  made  were  important. 

"  The  Indians,"  said  Schuyler,  in  a  letter  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, on  the  14th  of  December,  "delivered  us  a  speech  on  the  12th, 
in  which  they  related  the  substance  of  all  the  conferences  Colonel  John- 
son had  with  them  the  last  summer,  concluding  with  that  at  Montreal, 
where  he  delivered  to  each  of  the  Canadian  tribes  a  war-belt  and  a 
hatchet,  who  accepted  it ;  after  which,  they  were  invited  to  feast  on  a 
Bostonian  and  to  drink  his  blood,  an  ox  being  roasted  alive  for  the  pur- 
pose and  a  pipe  of  red  wine  given  to  drink.  The  war-song  was  also  sung. 
One  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations  that  attended  at  that  conference 
accepted  of  a  very  large,  black  war-belt,  with  a  hatchet  depicted  in  it, 
but  would  neither  eat  nor  drink  nor  sing  the  war-song.  The  famous 
belt  they  have  delivered  up,  and  we  have  full  proof  that  the  ministerial 
servants  have  attempted  to  engage  the  savages  against  us."  To  Wash- 
ington he  wrote  :  "  The  Mohawks  have  received  a  severe  and  public 
reprimand  from  the  other  Nations,  because  they  did  not  immediately 
send  for  the  few  of  that  tribe  that  were  in  Canada  [under  Brant],  some 
of  whom  were  killed  by  our  people."  And  to  Montgomery  he  wrote: 
"  The  Indians  have  delivered  to  us  Colonel  Johnson's  war-belt,  which 
he  gave  them  at  Montreal.  Your  conquests  have  convinced  them  that 
they  cannot  do  without  us,  and  they  are  all  humiliation."* 

At  about  this  time  the  Congress  received  such  infor- 
mation concerning  the  conduct  of  Sir  John  Johnson  and 
the  Tories  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  indicative  of  their 
speedy  activity  in  the  royal  cause,  such  as  collecting  arms, 
ammunition,  and  military  stores,  that  they  resolved  to 
take  countervailing  measures.  When  the  committee  ap- 
pointed to  inquire  into  the  matter  reported,  it  was — • 

"  Resolved,  That  the  said  committee  be  directed  to  communicate 
this  intelligence  to  General  Schuyler,  and,  in  the  name  of  the  Congress, 
desire  him  to  take  the  most  speedy  and  effectual  measures  for  securing 
the  said  arms  and  military  stores,  and  for  disarming  the  said  Tories, 
and  apprehending  their  chiefs."* 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books,     f  Journal  of  Congress,  Dec.  30,  1775- 


1775.]  A    FAITHFUL    OFFICER.  473 

Although  further  removed  from  the  most  important 
events  transpiring  in  the  northern  department,  than  when 
he  was  at  Ticonderoga,  General  Schuyler  was  equally  use- 
ful and  efficient,  with  his  head-quarters  at  Albany,  (while 
Montgomery  and  Arnold  were  prosecuting  the  campaign 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,)  in  the  general  management  of  the 
details  of  the  service,  and  the  paramount  duty  of  furnish- 
ing the  troops  with  supplies,  urging  forward  reenforce- 
ments,  and  keeping  the  civil  authorities  and  the  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the\  armies  so  constantly  and  clearly 
advised  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  his  department,  that 
nothing  to  promote  the  success  of  the  expedition  was  left 
undone,because  of  a  lack  of  information. 

No  officer  was  ever  more  vigilant  and  active  than 
Schuyler.  Nothing  escaped  his  observation  ;  and  nothing 
of  the  least  value  to  the  service  was  too  insignificant  to  en- 
gage his  earnest  attention.  Instead  of  leaving  the  entire 
management  of  separate  departments — commissary,  quar- 
ter-master, muster-master,  and  hospital-superintendent — ■ 
to  those  whom  Congress  had  appointed  for  that  service,  he 
exercised  a  direct  personal  supervision  of  all.  He  made 
out  careful  estimates  of  provisions  and  stores  for  the  com- 
missary ;  directed  many  of  the  details  of  the  quarter- 
master's department ;  made  lists  of  materials  used  in  the 
construction  of  vessels,  and  took  great  interest  in  the  hos- 
pital provisions  for  the  sick.  He  attended  with  zeal  and 
courtesy  to  the  wants  and  comfort  of  prisoners,  and  listened 
with  complacency  to  the  petitions  of  private  soldiers  who 
could  obtain  no  redress,  for  alleged  wrongs  through  their 
immediate  superiors.  Some  of  the  letters  of  these  humble 
men  (carefully  filed  among  his  papers),  in  which  they 
laid  their  grievances  before  him,  are  most  touching  ex- 
amples of  that  unhesitating  faith  in  his  justice  which  was 


474  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42 

felt  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  the  love  and  reverence  of 
every  man  whose  worthiness  made  him  an  object  of  General 
Schuyler's  kind  regard.  It  was  only  to  the  assuming,  the 
disobedient,  the  insubordinate,  the  idle,  and  the  vicious, 
that  he  appeared  as  a  stern  master. 

General  Schuyler  was  as  tender  and  tenacious  of  the 
rights  of  others  as  of  his  own  ;  and  in  all  his  intercourse 
with  the  officers  of  his  army  his  conduct  was  so  inflexibly 
and  irreproachably  honorable  that  no  man,  not  even  his 
bitter  enemies,  ever  complained  that  General  Schuyler  had 
claimed  for  himself  that  which  he  was  not  willing  to  allow 
to  others,  or  by  his  just  authority  invaded  any  right  be- 
longing to  a  fellow-soldier,  high  or  low  in  rank  or  merit. 
He  was  scrupulously  just  to  all ;  and  in  exacting  from 
others  that  loyalty  to  his  official  power  which  he  was  ever 
quick  to  give  to  his  own  superiors  in  rank,  he  was  always 
governed  by  the  highest  sense  of  right.  Therefore,  when 
we  see  him  rebuking  insubordination,  peculation,  and 
waste,  in  the  army,  sternly,  and  sometimes  passionately, 
in  clear  Saxon  language,  which  all  might  understand  ; 
speaking  out  his  sentiments  without  circumlocution,  or 
using  soft  and  submissive  words  as  a  cover  to  a  dissimu- 
lating spirit,  we  behold  a  man,  fearless  in  the  performance 
of  duty,  regardless  of  reputation,  except  that  which  rests 
upon  the  solid  basis  of  useful  actions,  and  so  fortified  by 
the  consciousness  of  rectitude  against  the  shafts  of  "  envy, 
hatred,  and  malice/'  that  he  could  afford  to  be  dutiful  at 
the  expense  of  present  unpopularity.  A  careful  guardian 
of  the  public  welfare,  economical  in  his  management,  and 
an  exact  disciplinarian,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  disorderly 
spirit  manifested  by  the  troops,  the  peculations  of  com- 
missaries and  others  in  offices  of  trust,  wastefulness  in 
every  department,  and  the  selfishness  and  sectional  jealousy 


1115.]  RESIGNATION    CONTEMPLATED.  475 

that  continually  appeared,  that  vexed  and  annoyed  him 
every  hour,  made  him  weary  of  the  service,  and  caused  him 
at  last  to  ask  Congress  to  allow  him  to  retire. 

From  the  beginning,  Schuyler's  illness  had  given 
Washington  and  the  General  Congress  much  uneasiness,  for 
upon  him  hung  the  best  hopes  of  the  northern  campaign. 
The  commander-in-chief  had  been  specially  concerned  when 
he  found  that  Wooster  was  about  to  join  the  army  of  the 
North,  and  might  claim  to  be  next  in  rank  and  command 
to  Schuyler.  "  General  Wooster,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler, 
"  I  am  informed,  is  not  of  such  activity  as  to  press  through 
difficulties  with  which  that  service  is  environed.  I  am 
therefore,  much  alarmed  for  Arnold,  whose  expedition  was 
built  upon  yours,  and  who  will  infallibly  perish,  if  the  in- 
vasion and  entry  into  Canada  are  abandoned  by  your  suc- 
cessors."* But  when  Schuyler,  as  we  have  seen,  by  prompt 
action,  settled  the  point  concerning  Wooster's  rank,  Wash- 
ington's mind  was  relieved,  and  he  wrote  to  him  saying : 
"  I  much  approve  your  conduct  in  regard  to  Wooster.  My 
fears  are  at  an  end,  as  he  acts  in  a  subordinate  character,  "f 

Washington's  mind  was  again  disturbed,  when  Schuy- 
ler, tortured  by  disease  and  vexed  beyond  all  forbearance 
by  the  conduct  of  the  troops  around  him,  gave  notice 
to  the  commander-in-chief  of  his  intention  to  resign. 
"Gentlemen,"  he  said  in  his  letter  to  Washington,  "find 

*  Sparks's  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington,  ill.,  119. 

f  Ibid,  iii.,  143.  Gunning:  Bedford,  writing  to  Schuyler  from  Philadelphia, 
»aid :  "  I  find  that  the  majority  of  the  members  are  by  no  means  pleased 
with  the  Connecticut  troops,  and  are  glad  to  hear  you  managed  General 
Wooster  as  you  did.  I  own,  for  myself,  I  had  great  fears  of  this  dangerous 
tendency  of  his  and  their  prevailing  spirit,  and  it  gives  me  particular  pleasure 
that  your  most  prudent  conduct  has  relieved  you  of  so  much  trouble  and  anxi- 
ety. The  gentlemen  here  all  feel  for  your  disagreeable  situation ;  but  put  that 
confidence  in  your  conduct,  that  when  restored  to  health,  and  aided  by  some 
new  regulations  for  tho  government  of  the  soldiery,  you  will  find  yourself 
more  comfortable,  at  the  head  of  a  more  obedient  army. — Autograph  Letter. 


476  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mt.  42. 

it  very,  disagreeable  to  coax,  to  wheedle,  and  even  to  lie, 
to  carry  on  the  service.     Habituated  to  order,  I  can  not, 
without  the  most  extreme  pain,  see  that  disregard  of  disci- 
pline, confusion,  and  inattention  which  reigns  so  generally 
n  this  quarter,  and  I  am,  therefore,  determined  to  retire." 
The  Congress  entreated  Schuyler  to  remain  at  his  post, 
because,  they  said,  his  retirement  "  would  deprive  America 
of  the  benefits  of  his  zeal  and  abilities,  and  rob  him  of  the 
honor  of  completing  the  work  he  had  so  happily  begun." 
Washington,  regarding  Schuyler  as  one  of  the  main 
supports  of  the  Continental  army,  was  much  concerned, 
and  immediately  wrote  to  him  an  expostulatory  letter. 

"  I  know  your  complaints  are  too  well  founded,"  he  said ;  "  but  I 
would  willingly  hope  that  nothing  will  induce  you  to  quit  the  serv- 
ice, and  that,  in  time,  order  and  subordination  will  take  the  place  of 
confusion,  and  command  be  rendered  more  agreeable.  I  have  met  with 
difficulties  of  the  same  sort,  and  such  as  I  never  expected ;  but  they 
must  be  borne  with.  *  *  *  The  cause  we  are  engaged  in  is  so  just 
and  righteous  that  we  must  try  to  rise  superior  to  every  obstacle  in  its 
support ;  and,  therefore,  I  beg  that  you  will  not  think  of  resigning,  un- 
less you  have  carried  your  application  to  Congress  too  far  to  recede." 
Three  weeks  later,  Washington  wrote  to  him,  saying:  "I  am  very 
sorry  to  find,  by  several  paragraphs  [in  Schuyler's  letter  to  Congress], 
that  both  you  and  General  Montgomery  in-cline  to  quit  the  service. 
Let  me  ask  you,  sir,  when  is  the  time  for  brave  men  to  exert  them- 
selves in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  their  country,  if  this  is  not  ?  Should 
any  difficulties  that  they  have  to  encounter,  at  this  important  crisis,  de- 
ter them?  God  knows  there  is  not  a  difficulty  that  you  both  very 
justly  complain  of,  which  I  have  not,  in  an  eminent  degree,  experienced, 
that  I  am  not  every  day  experiencing;  but  we  must  bear  up  against 
them,  and  make  the  best  of  mankind  as  they  are,  since  we  can  not  have 
them  as  we  wish.  Let  me,  therefore,  conjure  you  and  Mr.  Montgom- 
ery to  lay  aside  such  thoughts — thoughts  injurious  to  yourselves,  and 
extremely  so  to  your  country,  which  calls  aloud  for  gentlemen  of  your 
abilities."* 

General  Schuyler  felt  the  force  of  this  appeal,  and  re- 
plied as  follows  : 

*  Sparks's  Life  and  Writings  of  Washington,  iii.,  209. 


1775.]  PATRIOTIC    SENTIMENTS.  477 

"  I  do  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  answer  my  dear  general's  question, 
in  the  affirmative,  by  declaring,  that  now  or  never  is  the  time  for  every 
virtuous  American  to  exert  himself  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  his  coun- 
try, and  that  it  becomes  a  duty  cheerfully  to  sacrifice  the  sweets  of 
domestic  felicity  to  attain  the  honest  and  glorious  end  America  has  in 
view;  and  I  can,  with  a  good  conscience,  declare  that  I  have  devoted 
myself  to  the  service  of  my  country,  in  the  firmest  resolution,  to  sink  or 
swim  with  it,  without  anxiety  how  I  quit  the  stage  of  life,  provided  I 
leave  to  my  posterity  the  happy  reflection  that  their  ancestor  was  an 
honest  American."  Then  anticipating  the  question,  "  Why,  then,  do  you 
wish  to  retire  from  public  office?"  General  Schuyler  unburdened  his  full 
heart  in  the  confidence  of  brother  with  brother,  and  said :  "  I  think  I 
should  prejudice  my  country  by  continuing  any  longer  in  this  command. 
The  favorable  opinion  you  are  pleased  to  entertain  of  me,  obliges  me  to 
an  explanation  which  I  shall  give  you  in  confidence.  I  have  already 
informed  you  of  the  disagreeable  situation  I  have  been  in  during  the 
campaign,  but  I  would  waive  that,  were  it  not  that  it  has  chiefly  arisen 
from  prejudice  and  jealousy,  for  I  could  point  out  particular  persons  of 
rank  in  the  army  who  have  frequently  declared  that  the  general  com- 
manding in  this  quarter  ought  to  be  of  the  colony  whence  the  majority 
of  the  troops  come.  But  it  is  not  from  the  opinion  or  principles  of  in- 
dividuals that  I  have  drawn  the  following  conclusion  :  That  troops  from 
the  colony  of  Connecticut  will  not  bear  with  a  general  from  another  colony. 
It  is  from  the  daily  and  common  conversation  of  all  ranks  of  people 
from  that  colony,  both  in  and  out  of  the  army  ;  and  I  assure  you,  that 
I  sincerely  lament  that  a  people  of  so  much  public  virtue  should  be 
actuated  by  such  an  unbecoming  jealousy,  founded  on  such  a  narrow 
principle — a  principle  extremely  unfriendly  to  our  righteous  cause — as 
it  tends  to  alienate  the  affections  of  numbers  in  this  colony,  in  spite  of 
the  most  favorable  constructions  that  prudent  men  and  real  Americans 
among  us  attempt  to  put  upon  it.  And  although  I  frankly  avow  that  I 
feel  a  resentment,  yet  I  shall  continue  to  sacrifice  it  to  a  nobler  object — 
the  welfare  of  that  country  in  which  1  have  drawn  the  breath  of  life."* 

Entreated  by  leading  men  of  all  classes,  who  knew  his 
worth,  to  remain  in  command  of  his  department,  Schuyler 
yielded  ;  and  in  the  events  of  1776,  in  that  quarter,  his 
services  were  of  incalculable  value  to  the  cause  which  he 
had  so  heartily  espoused. 

*  Schuyler's  MS.  Letter  Books. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

The  successes  of  Montgomery,  and  especially  his  tri- 
umph at  Montreal,  had  given  great  joy  to  the  whole  coun- 
try. This  was  heightened  by  the  intelligence  of  Arnold's 
arrival  before  Quebec,  with  his  troops  in  good  spirits. 
"  We  receive,  with  very  great  satisfaction,  your  congratu- 
lations on  the  glorious  success  of  the  Continental  army  in 
Canada,"  wrote  Nathaniel  Woodhull  on  behalf  of  the  New 
York  Provincial  Congress,  to  General  Schuyler,  "  and  we 
can  assure  you  that  it  is  much  heightened  by  the  considera- 
tion that  we  recommended  the  generals  who  have,  with  so 
much  activity  and  success,  conducted  an  expedition  which 
was  attended  with  difficulties,  thought  to  be  insuperable 
by  those  who  were  acquainted  with  them."*  And  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  in  testimony  of  their  appreciation  of  his 
services,  promoted  Montgomery  to  the  rank  of  major-gene- 
ral on  the  9th  of  December. 

The  thoughtless  many  believed  the  conquest  of  all 
Canada  to  be  an  easy  task  after  these  victories,  but  there 
were  a  wise  few,  in  and  out  of  legislative  halls,  who  shared 
in  the  anxieties  of  the  leaders  in  the  northern  army,  and 
condemned,  without  stint,  the  conduct  of  the  troops,  who, 
at  the  moment  of  greatest  need,  had  practically  abandoned 
the  cause  and  returned  home.  The  Continental  Congress 
received  its  share  of  blame  because  of  its  tardiness  in 
*  Autograph  letter,  Doc.  9,  1775. 


1775.]  ARNOLD    AT    QUEBEC.  479 

affording  needed  cooperation.  Time  after  time,  both 
Schuyler  and  Montgomery  had  besought  them  to  send  re- 
enforcements  and  supplies,  and  also  an  advisory  committee 
like  the  one  dispatched  to  Cambridge  to  confer  with  Wash- 
ington, but  it  was  not  until  too  late  to  be  of  service  in 
the  current  campaign  that  such  committee  were  appoint- 
ed,* and  made  their  way  toward  Montreal.  Montgomery 
was  therefore  compelled,  by  circumstances,  to  make  un- 
authorized arrangements  with  the  troops  to  induce  them 
to  go  forward  ;  and  he  left  Montreal  for  Quebec  without 
seeing  the  committee. 

"Be  so  good,"  he  wrote  to  Schuyler  from  near  Quebec,  "  as  to  show 
Congress  the  necessity  I  was  under  of  clothing  the  troops  to  induce 
them  to  stay  and  undertake  this  service  at  such  an  inclement  season. 
I  think,  had  the  committee  been  with  me,  they  would  have  seen  the 
propriety  of  grasping  at  every  circumstance  in  my  power,  to  induce  them 
to  engage  again.  I  was  not  without  my  apprehensions  of  not  only 
being  unable  to  make  my  appearance  here,  but  even  being  obliged  to 
relinquish  the  ground  I  had  gained.  However,  I  hope  the  clothing 
and  dollar  bounty  will  not  greatly  exceed  the  bounty  offered  by  Con- 
gress *  *  *  Upon  another  occasion  I  have  also  ventured  to  go 
beyond  the  letter  of  the  law.  Colonel  Easton's  detachment  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Sorel  was  employed  on  the  important  service  of  stopping  the 
fleet.  They  were  half  naked,  and  the  weather  was  very  severe.  I  was 
afraid  that  not  only  they  might  grow  impatient  and  relinquish  the 
business  in  hand,  but  I  also  saw  the  reluctance  the  troops  at  Montreal 
showed  to  quit  it.  By  way  of  stimulant,  I  offered  as  a  reward  all 
public  stores  taken  in  the  vessels,  to  the  troops  who  went  forward,  except 
ammunition  and  provisions.  Warner's  corps  refused  to  march,  or  at 
least  declined  it.  Bedel's  went  on,  and  came  in  for  a  share  of  the  labor 
and  honor.  I  hope  the  Congress  will  not  think  this  money  ill  laid 
out."t 

Arnold,  as  we  have  seen,  was  baffled  in  his  attempts  to 
cross  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Quebec,  by  a  tempest  of  wind 
and  sleet  that  continued  for  several  days  and  nights 
Meanwhile  the  garrison  in  the  city  was  strengthened  by 

*  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  and  John  Langdon. 
f  Autograph  letter,  Dec.  5,  1775. 


480  PHILIP     SCHUTLER.  [JET.  42. 

the  Highlanders  under  McLean,  that  fled  from  the  Sorel. 
At  length  the  wind  ceased,  and  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  13th  of  November,  Arnold  began  the  em- 
barcation  of  his  troops  in  birch  canoes.  Before  dawn  the 
next  morning  over  five  hundred  of  them  had  crossed,  un- 
perceived  until  the  last  moment  by  the  British  vessels 
lying  in  the  river,  and  rendezvoused  at  Wolfe's  Cove, 
where  the  lamented  hero  of  the  old  war  prepared  to  scale 
the  heights  of  Abraham.  One  hundred  and  fifty  men 
were  yet  at  Point  Levi,  but  it  was  too  late  to  return  for 
them ;  so  Arnold,  emulating  the  daring  of  Wolfe,  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  little  band  of  heroes,  and  before 
sunrise  on  the  14th,  scaled  the  acclivity  at  the  exact  point 
where  his  predecessor  ascended,  sixteen  years  before. 

That  little  band  presented  a  sublime  spectacle.  There 
they  stood,  only  Hye  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  upon  a 
bleak  eminence,  in  the  dim  light  of  a  keen,  wintry  morn- 
ing, thinly  clad,  scantily  fed,  more  than  half  their  muskets 
made  useless  by  the  storms  of  the  wilderness,  with  a  dark 
castle  and  massive  stone  walls,  that  inclosed  an  alert  gar- 
rison and  five  thousand  inhabitants,  frowning  upon  them, 
yet  with  the  expectation  of  seeing  the  proud  city  bow  to 
them  as  its  conquerors  ! 

Yet  all  were  not  enemies  within  those  walls,  nor  even 
within  that  garrison.  In  fact,  Lieutenant-Governor  Cra- 
mahe,  in  command  there,  could  not  certainly  rely  upon 
any  one  except  the  Koyal  Scotch  regiment — McLean's 
Banditti,  as  Montgomery  called  them.  Most  of  the  Cana- 
dians in  the  city  were  friendly  to  the  invaders  ;  and  many 
who  bore  arms,  pressed  unwillingly  into  the  service,  would 
do  but  feeble  execution  against  the  republicans.  Indeed, 
they  would  have  joined  them  at  the  first  opportunity.  It 
was  upon  these  friends  and  their  disaffected  soldiers  that 


1115.]  QUEBEC    MENACED.  481 

Arnold  relied  more  for  success  than  upon  the  arms  of  the 
men  under  his  command.  He  believed  that  a  shout  from 
his  troops,  under  the  walls  of  Quebec,  would  be  the  signal 
for  an  insurrection  in  his  favor  within  ;  and  he  accordingly 
drew  up  his  men  within  eight  hundred  yards  of  the  gates 
of  St.  Louis  and  St.  John,  and  ordered  them  to  give  three 
cheers.  He  expected,  at  least,  to  see  the  regulars  sally 
out  to  attack  him,  when,  he  hoped,  by  the  assistance  of 
friends  in  the  city,  to  be  able  to  rush  in  through  the  open 
gates,  and  seize  the  town.  But  Cramahe  and  McLean  were 
too  wary  to  open  the  gates  without  perceiving  a  sure  pros- 
pect of  success  ;  and  the  people  within,  awed  by  the 
presence  of  troops,  were  comparatively  passive  and  silent. 
The  parapets  of  the  walls  were,  however,  soon  covered 
with  people,  and  many  of  them  responded  to  the  huzzas 
of  the  republican  troops.  The  Americans  also  discharged 
several  guns  at  the  British  soldiery,  but  without  effect, 
while  the  shot  of  a  thirty-two  pound  cannon,  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  republicans,  proved  equally  harmless. 

The  whole  affair  now  began  to  assume  the  character 
of  a  solemn  farce.  It  was  soon  rendered  completely  so  by 
Arnold,  who  sent  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Cramahe,  by  a 
flag,  a  pompous  proclamation  and  demand  for  a  surrender. 
After  a  preface,  in  which  he  set  forth  that  he  had  been  sent 
by  General  Washington  to  cooperate  with  General  Schuy- 
ler by  taking  possession  of  the  city  of  Quebec,  he  said  : 

11 1  do,  therefore,  in  the  name  of  the  united  Colonies,  demand  im- 
mediate surrender  of  the  town,  fortifications,  etc.,  of  Quebec  to  the  forces 
of  the  united  colonies  under  my  command,  forbidding  you  to  injure  any 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  in  their  persons  or  property,  as  you  will 
answer  the  same  at  your  peril.  On  surrendering  the  town,  the  prop- 
erty of  every  individual  shall  be  secured  to  him  ;  but  if  I  am  obliged  to 
carry  the  town  by  storm,  you  may  expect  every  severity  practised  on 
such  occasion ;  and  the  merchants,  who  may  now  save  their  property, 
will  probably  be  involved  in  the  general  ruin." 

21 


482  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [Mr.  43, 

The  bearer  of  this  summons  was  fired  upon  ;  but  on 
the  following  day  Arnold  found  means  to  convey  it  to 
Cramahe,  with  a  letter,  in  which  he  assured  him  that  he 
had  several  British  prisoners  in  his  hands,  who  should  re- 
ceive the  same  treatment  that  the  lieutenant-governor  had 
given,  as  he  understood,  an  American  prisoner,  then  in 
irons  within  the  town.*  But  the  letter  and  the  proclama- 
tion were  treated  with  contempt.  There  were  no  signs  of 
insurrection  in  the  city,  and  the  invaders  were  considered 
harmless.f 

Colonel  Arnold  thought  it  not  prudent  to  attempt  to 
storm  the  town  with  a  force  so  feeble.  He  accordingly 
proceeded  to  invest  it,  so  as  to  cut  off  all  communication 
with  the  country,  with  the  hope  of  reducing  the  garrison 
by  starvation,  he  having  been  informed  that  provisions 
were  scarce  in  the  city.  He  made  the  large  mansion  of 
Major  Caldwell,  "  half  a  league  from  the  city,"  his  head- 
quarters, and  his  extensive  out-buildings  were  converted 
into  barracks  for  the  troops.  He  also  took  possession  of  a 
nunnery  for  the  same  purpose,  and  made  provision  for  the 
sick  and  wounded.  The  detachment  left  at  Point  Levi 
had  made  its  way  to  the  camp  meanwhile,  and  his  force 
numbered  a  little  less  than  seven  hundred  men. 

But  Arnold  was   soon  compelled  to  raise  the  siege. 

*  This  was  a  young  Virginian,  named  G-eorge  Merchant,  who  had  been 
suddenly  seized  by  a  party  of  British,  while  on  duty  as  a  sentinel  near  the 
walls. 

f  "This  ridiculous  affair,"  wrote  an  eye-witness,  "gave  me  a  contemptible 
opinion  of  Arnold.  Morgan,  Febiger,  and  other  officers  did  not  hesitate  to 
speak  of  it  in  that  point  of  view.  However,  Arnold  had  a  vain  desire  to 
gratify.  He  was  well  known  at  Quebec.  Because  he  had  traded  in  horses 
there  he  was  despised  by  the  principal  people.  The  epithet  of  horse-jockey 
was  freely  and  universally  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  British.  Having  now 
obtained  power,  he  became  anxious  to  display  it  in  the  faces  of  those  who 
had  formerly  despised  and  contemned  him." — Judge  Henry's  Campaign 
against  Quebec. 


1775.]  ARNOLD    ABANDONS    QUEBEC.  483 

Friends  from  above  informed  him  that  Carleton  was  ap- 
proaching Quebec  in  an  armed  vessel,  with  two  hundred 
men  ;  and  other  friends  in  the  city  assured  him,  on  the 
18th,  that  McLean  would  sally  out  with  several  field-' 
pieces,  the  next  day,  and  attack  him.  He  at  once  per- 
ceived the  danger  of  his  situation ;  and  on  a  strict  exami- 
nation of  his  ammunition,  he  found  that  he  had  not  more 
than  five  rounds  of  powder  to  each  man,  so  much  had  been 
spoiled  in  the  march  across  the  wilderness.  Under  these 
circumstances  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  withdraw.  On  the 
morning  of  the  19th  he  broke  up  his  camp,  and  retired  to 
Point  aux  Trembles  (Aspen-Tree  Point),  eight  leagues 
above  Quebec,  and  there  awaited  the  orders  of  Montgomery. 
On  his  way  he  saw  the  vessel  that  was  conveying  Carleton 
and  his  friends  to  Quebec.  It  had  touched  at  Point  aux 
Trembles,  but  proceeded  immediately  on  hearing  of  the 
approach  of  the  republicans.  Soon  afterward,  Arnold 
heard  the  booming  of  the  cannon  that  welcomed  the  gov- 
ernor back  to  the  capital. 

In  full  view  of  the  difficulties  before  him,  Montgomery 
left  Montreal  for  Quebec,  on  the  26th  of  November, 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  a  soldier  and  a  law- 
giver commissioned  to  redeem  and  remodel  a  state.  He 
confidently  expected  success  in  his  military  enterprise  ;  and 
he  wrote  to  Schuyler  :  "  I  shall  lose  no  time  in  calling  a 
convention  when  my  intended  expedition  is  finished."  He 
proceeded  in  three  armed  schooners,  with  artillery  and 
provisions,  and  only  three  hundred  troops.  On  the  1st 
of  December  he  arrived  at  Point  aux  Trembles,  and  on  the 
3d  made  a  formal  junction  between  his  own  and  Arnold's 
troops,  and  took  the  chief  command. 

The  fearful  rigors  of  a  Canadian  winter  were  at  hand, 
and  yet,  feeble  as  were  his  preparations  for  the  perilous 


484  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Et.  42. 

service  before  him,  the  valiant  Montgomery  was  hopeful. 
"I  need  not  tell  you/'  he  wrote  to  his  father-in-law,  "  that 
until  Quebec  is  taken,  Canada  is  unconquered  ;  and  that, 
to  accomplish  this,  we  must  resort  to  siege,  investment,  or 
storm."  The  first  was  out  of  the  question,  because  he  had 
no  battering  train  ;  and  from  the  impossibility  of  making 
trenches  in  a  rocky  soil  and  in  winter,  the  second  could 
not  be  successfully  accomplished  without  ample  reenforce- 
ments,  for  the  city  had  provisions  for  eight  months  ;  but 
the  third  he  thought  feasible. 

"  To  the  storming  plan,"  he  said,  "  there  are  fewer  objections  ;  and 
to  this  we  must  come  at  last.  If  my  force  be  small,  Carleton's  is  not 
great.  The  extensiveness  of  his  works,  which,  in  case  of  investment, 
would  favor  him,  will,  in  the  other  case,  favor  us.  Masters  of  our 
secret,  we  may  select  a  particular  time  and  place  for  attack,  and  to  re- 
pel this  the  garrison  must  be  prepared  at  all  times  and  places ;  a  cir- 
cumstance which  will  impose  upon  it  incessant  watching  and  labor,  by 
day  and  by  night,  which,  in  its  undisciplined  state,  must  breed  discon- 
tents that  may  compel  Carleton  to  capitulate,  or  perhaps  to  make  an 
attempt  to  drive  us  off.  In  this  last  idea  there  is  a  glimmering  of  hope. 
Wolfe's  success  was  a  lucky  hit,  or  rather  a  series  of  such  hits ;  all 
sober  and  scientific  calculation  was  against  him,  until  Montcalm,  per- 
mitting his  courage  to  get  the  better  of  discretion,  gave  up  the  advantage 
of  his  fortress,  and  came  out  to  try  hi3  strength  on  the  plain.  Carle- 
ton,  who  was  Wolfe's  quarter-master-general,  understands  this  well, 
and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  will  not  follow  the  Frenchman's  example."* 

With  these  views  Montgomery  prepared  to  march 
upon  Quebec.  He  was  much  pleased  with  Arnold's 
troops,  and  spoke  of  them  in  high  terms  in  a  letter  to 
Schuyler  : 

"  I  find  Colonel  Arnold's  corps,"  he  said,  "  an  exceedingly  fine  one. 
Inured  to  fatigue,  and  well  accustomed  to  cannon  shot  (at  Cambridge), 
there  is  a  style  of  discipline  among  them  much  superior  to  what  I  have 
been  used  to  see  this  campaign.  He,  himself,  is  active,  intelligent,  and 
enterprising.     Fortune  often  baffles  the  sanguine  expectations  of  poor 

*  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  iii.,  1638. 


m5.]     MONTGOMERY  BEFORE  QUEBEC.     485 

mortals.  I  am  not  intoxicated  with  the  favors  I  have  received  at  her 
hands,  but  I  do  think  there  is  a  fair  prospect  of  success.  The  governor 
has  been  so  kind  as  to  send  out  of  town  many  of  our  friends,  who  re- 
fused to  do  military  duty;*  among  them  several  very  intelligent  men, 
capable  of  doing  me  considerable  service — one  of  them,  a  Mr.  Antill,  I 
have  appointed  chief  engineer."! 

Montgomery  clothed  Arnold's  corps  with  thick  suits 
from  the  public  stores  ;  and  while  they  were  paraded  in 
front  of  the  parish  church  at  Point  aux  Trembles,  he  ad- 
dressed them  in  words  of  just  praise  and  patriotic  exhor- 
tation. "A  few  huzzas,"  says  Henry,  "from  our  freezing 
bodies  were  returned  to  this  address  of  the  gallant  hero. 
New  life  was  infused  into  the  whole  corps  ;"  and  the  little 
army  of  republicans,  less  than  a  thousand  strong,  with 
two  hundred  Canadians  under  Colonel  James  Livingston, 
pressed  on  toward  the  capital  in  the  face  of  a  severe  snow- 
storm. 

Montgomery  arrived  before  Quebec  on  the  5th  of  De- 
cember, made  his  head- quarters  at  Holland  House,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Foi,  between  two  and  three  miles  from  the 
town,  and  from  there,  on  the  same  day,  wrote  a  long  and 
interesting  letter  to  Schuyler. 

"  Mr.  Carleton,"  he  said,  "  who  is,  I  suppose,  ashamed  to  show  his 
face  in  England,  is  now  in  town,  and  puts  on  the  show  of  defense.  The 
works  of  Quebec  are  extremely  extensive,  and  very  incapable  of  being 
defended.  His  garrison  consists  of  McLane's  banditti,  the  sailors  from 
the  frigates  and  other  vessels  laid  up,  together  with  the  citizens  obliged 

*  Carleton  was  unpopular  with  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  toward 
which  he  had  shown  much  reserve,  confining  his  intimacy  to  the  military 
and  the  Canadian  gentry.  He  was  well  aware  of  his  unpopularity,  and 
looked  with  distrust  on  all  around  him.  Perceiving  many  malcontents  in  Que- 
bec, he  issued  a  proclamation  on  the  2 2d  of  November,  ordering  all  persons 
who  should  refuse  to  take  up  arms  for  the  king,  to  leave  the  town  within  four 
days  from  the  date  of  the  proclamation,  and,  with  their  wives  and  children,  to 
leave  the  district  of  Quebec  before  the  first  day  of  December,  undei  the  pen- 
alty of  being  treated  as  rebels  or  spies. 

f  Autograph  Letter,  December  5,  1175. 


486  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [^Jt.  42. 

to  take  up  arms,  most  of  whom  are  impatient  of  the  fatigues  of  a  siege, 
and  wish  to  see  matters  accommodated  amicably.  I  propose  amusing 
Mr.  Carleton  with  a  formal  attack,  erecting  batteries,  etc. ;  but  mean  to 
assault  the  works  of  the  Lower  Town,  which  is  the  weakest  part.  I 
have  this  day  written  to  Mr.  Carleton,  and  also  to  the  inhabitants,  which, 
I  hope,  will  have  some  effect.  I  shall  be  very  sorry  to  be  reduced  to 
this  mode  of  attack,  because  I  know  the  melancholy  consequences,  but 
Ithe  approaching  severe  season,  and  the  weakness  of  the  garrison,  to- 
gether with  the  nature  of  the  works,  point  it  out  too  strongly  to  be 
passed  by."* 

Montgomery's  letter  to  Carleton,  above-mentioned,  was 
a  demand  for  the  instant  surrender  of  the  city.  This  was 
his  first  act  after  disposing  his  troops  before  Quebec.  In 
violation  of  the  rules  of  honorable  warfare,  the  governor 
ordered  McLean  to  fire  upon  the  flag,  and  not  allow  it  to 
approach  the  walls.  Montgomery  was  made  very  indig- 
nant by  this  treatment,  and  on  the  following  morning  he 
addressed  a  very  menacing  letter  to  Carleton,  in  which  he 
exaggerated  the  strength  and  appointments  of  his  army, 
and  made  a  demand  for  an  instant  surrender.  This  letter, 
and  one  of  like  tenor  to  the  inhabitants,  were  carried  into 
the  town  by  a  woman  from  the  country,  and  a  copy  of  the 
letter  was  afterward  shot  over  the  walls  upon  an  arrow. 
But  Carleton,  innately  brave,  and  relying  upon  his  known 
resources,  refused  to  hold  any  communication  with  the 
"  rebel  general,"  nor  would  he  permit  the  least  intercourse 
between  the  citizens  and  the  people  outside  the  walls. 
He  was  well  informed  of  the  real  strength  of  Montgomery's 
forces,  felt  confident  that  the  garrison  would  keep  the  dis- 
loyal citizens  quiet,  and  expected  to  see  the  rigors  of  the 
winter  soon  drive  the  besiegers  away. 

Montgomery  now  prepared  for  an  assault.  His  quar- 
ters, as  we  have  observed,  were  at  Holland  House.  Those 
of  Arnold  were  near  Scott's  Bridge  on  the  St.  Charles  River, 

*  Autograph  Letter,  Dec.  5,  1775. 


X775.]  AN    ICE-BATTERY.  487 

and  the  greater  portion  of  the  republican  troops  were  en- 
camped near  the  Intendant's  Palace  in  the  suburb  St. 
Roque,  of  the  Lower  Town,  not  far  from  Palace  Gate.  His 
prospects  were  certainly  very  unpromising.  With  a  feeble, 
ill-clad,  ill-fed  army,  exposed  to  the  most  severe  frosts 
and  storms  in  the  open  fields  ;  with  no  other  ordnance 
than  a  field- train  of  artillery  and  a  few  mortars  ;  with 
few  intrenching  tools,  and  the  ground  frozen  to  a  great 
depth  and  covered  with  snow-drifts,  how  could  the  re- 
publican commander  hope  for  success  ?  Yet  his  brave 
heart  and  generous  spirit  would  not  yield  to  these  formida- 
ble obstacles,  and  he  resolved  to  force  the  garrison  and 
people  to  surrender  by  a  series  of  annoyances,  hinted  at  in 
his  letter  just  quoted.  He  accordingly  planted  four  or 
five  mortars  in  the  suburb  St.  Roque,  of  the  Lower  Town, 
and  from  these  cast  about  two  hundred  shells  into  the 
city,  in  the  course  of  thirty  hours,  but  without  other  seri- 
ous effect  than  setting  a  few  buildings  on  fire.  He  had 
already  commenced  the  construction  of  a  six-gun  battery 
and  other  works  under  the  direction  of  Captain  Antill,  on 
the  plains  of  Abraham,  about  seven  hundred  yards  from 
the  walls.  It  was  a  difficult  task,  for  the  ground  was 
deeply  frozen,  and  the  snow  lay  in  immense  drifts.  In- 
deed, the  earth  could  not  be  penetrated,  and  gabions  and 
fascines  were  set  up  and  filled  with  snow,  upon  which  water 
was  poured,  and  instantly  congealed.  Thus,  an  ice  mound 
was  soon  formed,  and  upon  this  glittering  embankment 
Captain  Lamb  placed  six  twelve-pound  cannon  and  two 
howitzers,  in  battery. 

When  these  works  were  completed,  Montgomery  sent 
Colonel  Arnold,  and  Captain  Macpherson  (his  favorite  aid- 
de-camp),  with  a  flag  of  truce,  to  bear  letters  to  the  governor. 
They  reached  the  walls  without  molestation,  when  they 


488  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [>Et.  42. 

were  ordered  off  immediately.  To  their  question,  whether 
the  governor  would  receive  any  letters  from  them,  they 
were  answered  with  an  emphatic  No,  and  ordered  to  leave. 
Carleton  utterly  refused  to  hold  any  kind  of  parley  with 
the  besiegers.  Montgomery  was  exceedingly  indignant, 
and  on  the  following  morning  he  contrived  to  send  in  to 
Carleton  a  letter,  in  which,  after  charging  him  with  per- 
sonal ill-treatment,  and  cruelty  to  American  prisoners, 
and  informing  him  that  he  well  knew  the  governor's  situa- 
tion, and  that  only  motives  of  humanity  caused  him  to 
make  another  overture  for  a  surrender,  he  said  : 

"  I  am  at  the  head  of  troops  accustomed  to  success,  confident  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  cause  they  are  engaged  in,  inured  to  danger  and 
fatigue,  and  so  highly  incensed  at  your  inhumanity,  illiberal  abuse,  and 
the  ungenerous  means  employed  to  prejudice  them  in  the  minds  of  the 
Canadians,  that  it  is  with  difficulty  I  restrain  them  till  my  batteries  are 
ready,  from  assaulting  your  works,  which  would  afford  them  a  fair  op- 
portunity of  ample  vengeance  and  just  retaliation.  Firing  upon  a  flag 
of  truce,  hitherto  unprecedented,  even  among  savages,  prevents  my 
following  the  ordinary  mode  of  conveying  my  sentiments;  however,  I 
will,  at  any  rate,  acquit  my  conscience.  Should  you  persist  in  an  un- 
warrantable defense,  the  consequence  be  upon  your  own  head.  Be- 
ware of  destroying  stores  of  any  sort,  as  you  did  at  Montreal  or  in  the 
river.     If  you  do,  by  Heaven,  there  will  be  no  mercy  shown."* 

Carleton  paid  no  attention  to  this  letter  ;  and  Mont- 
gomery ordered  Lamb  to  open  his  battery  upon  the  ene- 
my's works.  Bombs  were  sent  from  the  Lower  Town  at 
the  same  time,  and  did  some  damage,  but  the  cannon 
made  no  serious  impression  upon  the  walls.  At  length 
heavy  balls,  hurled  from  the  citadel,  shivered  Lamb's  ice- 
battery  and  the  brittle  breast- work  near,  and  very  soon 
silenced  his  cannon,  and  compelled  him  to  withdraw. 

It  was  toward  the  close  of  the  day,  when  this  destruc- 
tive gun  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  ice  battery.    Mont- 

*  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  iii.,  289. 


1775.]  PLANS    OF    ASSAULT.  489 

gomery,  accompanied  by  his  youthful  aid-de-camp,  Aaron 
Burr,  paid  a  visit  to  the  trenches,  and  at  the  moment 
when  he  approached  the  spot  where  Lamb  was  plying  his 
guns,  a  shot  from  the  enemy  dismounted  one  of  them  and 
wounded  several  of  the  men.  A  second,  and  almost  equally 
destructive  shot,  immediately  followed.  "  This  is  warm 
work,  sir/'  said  Montgomery,  addressing  Captain  Lamb. 
"  It  is,  indeed,"  replied  the  gallant  soldier,  "  and  certainly 
no  place  for  you,  sir."  "  Why  so,  captain  ?"  asked  Mont- 
gomery. "  Because,"  he  answered,  "  there  are  enough  of 
us  here  to  be  killed,  without  the  loss  of  you,  which  would 
be  irreparable."  The  general  quickly  perceived  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  the  batteries,  and,  on  retiring,  gave  Captain 
Lamb  permission  to  withdraw  his  men  whenever  he  might 
think  proper  ;  immediately  if  he  chose  to  do  it.  But  Lamb 
decided  to  remain  until  dark,  when,  securing  all  the  guns, 
he  abandoned  the  ruined  redoubt.  Lamb,  who  had  never 
seen  Burr  before,  wondered  that  the  general  should  en- 
cumber his  military  family  with  a  boy.  But  on  observing 
his  perfect  coolness  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  danger, 
and  the  fire  in  his  keen,  black  eye,  and  perceiving  no 
trace  of  the  disturbances  of  fear  in  his  singularly  striking 
countenance,  he  was  convinced  that  the  young  volunteer 
was  no  ordinary  youth,  and  not  out  of  place  by  the  side 
of  the  brave  Montgomery.* 

The  commander  had  not  expected  much  breaching 
service  from  his  cannon.  They  were  intended  more  to  lull 
the  enemy  into  security  at  other  points  than  as  means  of 
much  destructive  execution.  He  had  other  and  more 
effective  plans  in  view  ;  and  on  the  evening  of  his  first 
cannonade,  he  wrote  to  General  Wooster,  saying : 

°  Leake's  Life  of  Lamb,  p.  125. 
21* 


490  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [jet.  42. 

"  The  enemy  have  very  heavy  metal,  and  I  think  will  dismount  our 
guns  very  shortly ;  some  they  have  already  rendered  almost  useless. 
This  gives  very  little  uneasiness ;  I  never  expected  any  other  advan- 
tage from  our  artillery  than  to  amuse  the  enemy  and  blind  them  as  to 
my  real  intention.  I  propose  the  first  strong  northwester,  to  make  two 
attacks  by  night :  one  with  about  a  third  of  the  troops,  on  the  Lower 
Town,  having  first  set  fire  to  some  houses,  which  will,  in  all  probability, 
communicate  their  flames  to  the  stockade  lately  erected  on  the  rock 
near  St.  Roque  ;  the  other  upon  Cape  Diamond  Bastion,  by  escalade. 
I  have  not  time  to  point  out  my  reasons  for  this  particular  attack ;  let 
it  suffice  that  it  is  founded  on  the  nature  of  the  grounds,  works,  and 
the  best  intelligence  I  have  been  able  to  procure.  However,  I  am  not 
sure  whether  the  troops  relish  this  mode  of  proceeding."* 

That  evening  (16th  of  December)  Montgomery  called 
a  council  of  all  the  commissioned  officers  of  Arnold's  de- 
tachment, to  determine  upon  future  proceedings.  A  large 
majority  voted  for  making  an  assault  as  soon  as  reenforce- 
ments  should  arrive,  and  the  men  should  be  furnished 
with  bayonets,  hatchets,  and  hand-grenades.  But  in  these 
contingencies  lay  all  the  difficulty. 

"I  have  been  near  a  fortnight  before  Quebec,  at  the  head  of  upward 
of  eight  hundred  troops,"  Montgomery  wrote  to  Schuyler,  "  a  force, 
you  '11  say,  not  very  adequate  to  the  business  in  hand.  But  we  must 
make  the  best  of  it.  It  is  all  I  could  get.  I  have  been  so  used  to 
struggle  with  difficulties,  that  I  expect  them  of  course."  He  anxiously 
desired  the  reinforcements,  that  he  might  act  promptly  and  efficiently. 
"  I  hope  the  troops  will  be  sent  down,"  he  said,  "as  soon  as  possible, 
for  should  we  fail  in  our  first  attempt,  a  second  or  a  third  may  do  the 
business  before  relief  can  arrive  to  the  garrison.  Possession  of  the 
town,  and  that  speedily,  I  hold  of  the  highest  consequence.  The  enemy 
are  expending  their  ammunition  most  liberally,  and  I  fear  the  Canadians 
will  not  relish  a  union  with  the  colonies  till  they  see  the  whole  country 
in  our  hands,  and  defended  by  such  a  force  as  may  relieve  them  from 
the  apprehensions  of  again  falling  under  the  ministerial  lash.  Were  it 
not  for  these  reasons,  I  should  have  been  inclined  to  a  blockade  till  to- 
ward the  1st  of  April,  by  which  time  the  garrison  would  probably  be 
much  distressed  for  provisions  and  wood."* 

*  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  iii.,  289. 
f  Autograph  letter,  Dec.  18,  1775. 


1175.]  INATTENTION    OF    CONGRESS.       .       491 

Schuyler  was  utterly  powerless.  He  had  tried  recruit- 
ing, but  failed  in  the  attempt.  He  had  already  written 
to  Montgomery — "  I  am  much  afraid  that  we  shall  not 
have  a  man  left  at  either  Fort  George  or  Ticonderoga  by 
the  first  day  of  January.  The  recruiting  parties  that  have 
been  sent  out  meet  with  little  or  no  success."*  He  had 
earnestly  importuned  the  Congress  for  reinforcements,  and 
in  a  special  manner  for  hard  money,  for  the  soldiers  were 
averse  to  receiving  the  Continental  bills,  and  but  few  of  the 
Canadians  would  touch  them.  "  I  am  amazed  no  money 
is  yet  arrived,"  Montgomery  wrote  to  Schuyler.  "The 
troops  are  uneasy,  and  I  shall  by  and  by  be  at  my  wits' 
end  to  furnish  the  army  with  provisions.  I  have  almost 
exhausted  Price,  having  had  upward  of  £5000,  York,  from 
him/'f 

In  the  lack  of  hard  money  may  be  found  the  secret  of 
many  of  the  discontents  in  the  army,  and  the  failure  in  the 
recruiting  service.  The  Congress  was  even  dilatory  in  re- 
plying to  Schuyler's  letters  ;  and  now,  when  Montgomery 
was  appealing  to  him  for  more  troops  and  supplies,  he 
again  wrote  an  urgent,  at  the  same  time  a  quietly  sarcastic 
letter,  to  the  president  of  the  supreme  legislature,  saying  : 

*  MS.  Letter  Book,  Dec.  17,  1175. 

f  Autograph  letter,  December  26,  1775.  Mr.  James  Price  was  a  wealthy 
merchant  of  Montreal,  and  from  the  beginning  had  been  an  active  friend  of 
the  republicans.  "I  must  take  this  opportunity,"  wrote  Montgomery  to 
Schuyler,  "  of  acknowledging  Price's  services.  He  has  been  a  faithful  friend 
to  the  cause  indeed !  His  advice  and  assistance  upon  every  occasion  I  have 
been  much  benefited  by ;  and  when  I  consider  that  he  has  been  the  first 
mover  of  those  measures  which  have  been  attended  with  so  many  and  great 
advantages  to  the  united  colonies,  I  can't  help  wishing  the  Congress  to  give 
him  an  ample  testimony  of  their  sense  of  his  generous  and  spirited  exertions 
in  the  cause  of  freedom."  In  a  letter  to  Schuyler,  from  Montreal,  on  the 
6th  of  January,  1775,  Mr.  Price  wrote:  "I  fear  the  army  here  will  be  in 
great  want  of  cash.  Our  house  has  advanced  them,  since  their  arrival  hare, 
£20,000.  We  are  now  almost  out  of  that  article ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  I 
don't  find  any  of  the  merchants  here  willing  to  lend." 


492  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

"  I  cannot  procure  any  gold  or  silver  here  to  send  to  Canada.  I  am 
afraid  it  is  not  to  be  had  at  Philadelphia,  as  a  considerable  time  has 
already  elapsed  since  Congress  gave  me  reason  to  hope  that  a  supply 
would  be  sent.  I  can  not  help,  sir,  repeating  my  wish,  that  a  consider- 
able force  should  be  immediately  sent  into  Canada.  The  necessity  ap- 
pears to  me  indispensable,  for  I  do  most  sincerely  believe  that  unless 
such  a  measure  be  adopted  we  shall  severely  repent  of  it,  perhaps  when 
too  late  to  afford  a  remedy.  I  beg  a  thousand  pardons  of  Congress  for 
my  importunity  on  this  occasion,  and  I  hope  they  will  have  charity 
enough  to  impute  it  to  my  zeal  for  the  American  cause.  From  what  I 
can  learn,  the  troops  that  are  at  Ticonderoga  will  leave  it  to-morrow, 
and  I  have  none  to  send  there.  The  few  that  are  here  [Albany]  refuse 
to  remain  until  Tuesday,  to  escort  the  prisoners,  before  which  I  can 
not  move  them  for  want  of  carriages.  I  have  been  so  very  long  without 
hearing  from  Congress,  that  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  to  have  the  honor 
of  a  line  from  you."* 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  Dec.  31,  1175. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Almost  three  weeks  were  consumed  by  Montgomery  in 
ineffectual  efforts  to  compel  Carleton  to  surrender,  or  to 
make  an  attempt  to  enter  the  town.  Mutinous  murmurs 
became  audible  in  the  camp.  The  term  of  enlistment  of 
many  of  the  men  was  nearly  expired,  and  the  small-pox 
made  its  appearance  among  the  soldiers.  The  commander 
perceived  that  something  effectual  must  be  done  immedi- 
ately, or  the  attempt  to  reduce  Quebec  must  be  abandoned. 

A  fearful  web  of  difficulties  was  gathering  around 
Montgomery,  and  he  called  a  Council  of  War.  Price 
and  Antill  had  expressed  a  belief  that  if  he  could  get 
possession  of  the  Lower  Town,  the  merchants  and  other 
citizens  would  induce  Carleton  to  surrender  rather  than 
expose  all  their  property  to  destruction.  He  laid  before 
the  council  the  plan  he  had  hinted  at  in  his  letter  to 
General  Wooster  on  the  16th,  and  it  was  approved.  But 
when  he  proceeded  to  make  the  final  arrangements  for  the 
assault,  he  found  some  of  Arnold's  battalion  indisposed  to 
join  in  the  measure,  on  account  of  difficulties  among  the 
officers. 

"  When  last  I  had  the  honor  to  write  to  you,"  wrote  Montgomery 
to  Schuyler,  "  I  hoped  before  now  to  have  had  it  in  my  power  to  give 
you  some  good  news.  I  then  had  reason  to  believe  the  troops  well 
inclined  for  a  coup-de-main.  I  have  since  discovered,  to  my  great 
mortification,  that  three  companies  of  Colonel  Arnold's  detachment  are 
very  averse  from  the  measure.  There  is  strong  reason  to  believe  their 
difference  of  sentiment  from  the  rest  of  the  troops  arises  from  the  in- 
fluence of  their  officers.  Captain  Hanchett,  who  has  incurred  Colonel 
Arnold's  displeasure  by  some  misconduct,  and  thereby  given  room  for 
harsh  language,  is  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  has  made  some  declarations 


494  PHILIP     SCHUYLER 


T^Et.  42. 


which,  I  think,  must  draw  upon  him  the  censure  of  his  country,  if 
brought  to  trial.  Captains  Goodrich  and  Hubbard  seem  to  espouse  his 
quarrel.  A  field  officer  is  concerned  in  it,  who  wishes,  I  suppose,  to 
have  the  separate  command  of  those  companies,  as  the  above-mentioned 
captains  have  made  application  for  that  purpose.  This  dangerous  party- 
threatens  the  ruin  of  our  affairs.  I  shall,  at  any  rate,  be  obliged  to 
change  my  plan  of  attack,  being  too  weak  to  put  that  in  execution  I 
had  formerly  determined  on.  I  am  much  afraid  my  friend,  Major 
Brown,  is  deeply  concerned  in  this  business.  I  will  hereafter  acquaint 
you  more  particularly  with  this  matter."* 

That  after  communication  was  never  made.  This  was 
the  last  letter  that  Montgomery  ever  wrote  to  Schuyler. 
His  suspicions  concerning  Major  Brown's  complicity  in  the 
affair,  was  justified  by  facts.  That  officer  and  Arnold  had 
quarreled  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  there  was  a  deadly 
feud  between  them.  Forgetful  of  his  duty  to  the  cause, 
Brown  made  the  dispute  with  Captain  Hanchett  an  oc- 
casion to  annoy  Arnold,  from  the  time  they  left  Point 
aux  Trembles,  by  widening  the  breach,  and  endeavoring 
to  seduce,  the  three  captains  named,  from  the  command  of 
their  leader  to  that  of  his  own.  He  was  so  far  successful 
that  the  commanders  and  their  companies  threatened  to 
leave  the  army  unless  they  should  be  detached  from  Ar- 
nold's corps.  "  I  must  try  every  means  to  prevent  their 
departure,"  wrote  Montgomery  to  Schuyler.  "  In  this 
matter  I  am  much  embarrassed.  Their  officers  have  offered 
to  stay,  provided  they  may  join  some  other  corps.  This 
is  resentment  against  Arnold,  and  will  hurt  him  so  much 
that  I  don't  think  I  can  consent  to  it." 

Montgomery's  wisdom  and  firmness  finally  healed  the 
dissensions  and  restored  order.  At  sunset  on  Christmas 
day,  he  reviewed  Arnold's  battalion  at  Morgan's  quarters, 
and  addressed  them  with  warmth  of  sentiment  and  elo- 
quence of  expression.  He  then  called  a  council  of  war. 
and  it  was  agreed  to  make  a  night  attack  upon  the  Lower 
*  Autograph  letter,  December  26,  1115. 


1115.] 


ASSAULT     ON     QUEBEC.  495 


Town,  much  after  the  manner  he  had  already  proposed. 
One  third  of  his  men  were  to  set  fire  to  houses  in  St. 
Boque,  so  as  to  consume  the  stockade  in  that  quarter  of 
the  British  works,  while  the  main  body  should  attempt  to 
take  Cape  Diamond  bastion,  by  escalade,  and  thus  gain 
command  of  the  fortress  and  the  Upper  Town. 

Preparations  for  the  assault  were  carried  on  actively. 
Young  Burr,  now  holding  the  rank  of  captain  in  Mont- 
gomery's military  family,  was  eager  for  renown.  He 
sought  and  obtained  permission  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope  in 
scaling  Cape  Diamond  bastion.  He  prepared  his  ladders 
and  drilled  his  men  with  care.  Every  evening,  while 
waiting  for  the  dark  and  stormy  night  on  which  Mont- 
gomery had  determined  to  make  the  attempt,  he  recon- 
noitered  the  proposed  point  of  attack,  and  made  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  every  foot  of  the  locality. 

It  was  with  impatience  that  Montgomery  waited  for 
the  serene  cold  days  and  nights  to  pass  away,  and  a 
stormy  hour  to  begin.  Favorable  omens  at  length  ap- 
peared. On  the  30th,  only  the  day  before  the  expiration 
of  the  term  of  service  of  his  troops,  the  air  thickened,  and 
early  in  the  evening  a  snow  storm  from  the  northeast  set 
in.  His  troops  were  now  reduced  by  desertion  and  the 
small-pox  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty  men.  But  the  brave 
General  was  not  to  be  deterred  from  attempting  the  cap- 
ture of  the  Canadian  capital.  No  doubt  he  would  have 
succeeded,  had  not  false  Canadians,  who  deserted,  apprised 
the  garrison  of  his  plans.  Carleton  and  McLean,  and  the 
loyal  inhabitants  and  the  garrison,  were  consequently  on  the 
alert.  Two-thirds  of  the  men  lay  on  their  arms,  to  be  pre- 
pared for  a  surprise,  and  Carleton  and  other  civilians  slept 
in  their  clothes.  Aware  of  all  this,  Montgomery  again 
changed  his  plan  of  attack. 

Colonel  Livingston,  with  his  corps,  was  directed  to 


496  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [jEt.  42. 

make  a  feigned  attack  on  St.  Louis  Gate,  and  set  it  on 
fire,  and  at  the  same  time  Major  Brown  was  to  menace 
Cape  Diamond  bastion.  Arnold,  with  three  hundred  and 
fifty  of  his  men,  and  forty  of  Lamb's  artillery  company, 
was  to  assail  the  works  in  the  suburb  St.  Koque,  while 
Montgomery  with  the  remainder  was  to  pass  below  Cape 
Diamond  bastion,  carry  the  defenses  at  the  base  of  the 
declivity,  and  endeavor  to  press  forward  and  form  a  junc- 
tion with  Arnold.  Being  thus  in  possession  of  the  Lower 
Town,  the  combined  forces  were  to  carry  Prescott  gate, 
at  the  lower  end  of  Mountain  street,  and  rush  into  the 
city. 

Montgomery  gave  orders  for  the  troops  to  be  ready 
at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  31st ;  and  that  they 
might  recognize  each  other,  each  soldier  was  directed  to 
fasten  a  piece  of  white  paper  to  the  front  of  his  cap. 
Some  of  them  wrote  upon  the  paper  the  thrilling  words 
of  Patrick  Henry,  "  Liberty  or  Death." 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  troops  were  put  in  motion. 
The  New  Yorkers,  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Campbell,  and  a  party  of  Easton's  corps,  paraded  at  Hol- 
land House,  and  were  led  by  Montgomery,  in  single  file, 
down  the  ravine  to  Wolfe's  cove,  and  thence  along  the 
St.  Lawrence  shore  (now  Champlain  street),  about  two 
miles  toward  the  barrier  under  Cape  Diamond.  Mean- 
while Arnold,  who  had  paraded  with  his  division  at  Mor- 
gan's quarters,  advanced  from  the  General  Hospital,  on 
the  banks  of  the  St.  Charles,  through  the  suburb  St. 
Koque,  to  attack  the  barrier  below  Palace  Gate,  and  Brown 
and  Livingston  proceeded  to  their  respective  points  of 
action. 

The  path  along  the  St.  Lawrence  was  exceedingly 
rough,  being  blocked  with  rocks,  snow,  and  ice.  The 
wind  had  increased  almost  to  a  gale.     It  came  from  the 


1775.]  DEATH     OF     MONTGOMERY.  497 

northeast,  freighted  with  snow,  sleet,  and  cutting  hail, 
and  blew  furiously  in  their  faces.  The  progress  of  the 
troops  on  both  sides  of  the  town  was  very  slow,  and  Mont- 
gomery was  yet  some  distance  from  his  expected  point 
of  attack,  when  Brown's  signal  of  assault  on  Cape  Dia- 
mond bastion  was  given.  He  pushed  forward  with  his 
aid-de-camp,  Macpherson,  and  the  companies  of  Captains 
Cheesman  and  Mott,  and  arrived  at  the  first  barrier  before 
daylight.  It  was  undefended,  and  Montgomery  and  the 
brave  young  Cheesman  were  the  first  to  enter  it  after  the 
carpenters  who  accompanied  them,  had  sawed  away  some 
pickets.  He  sent  messengers  back  to  hurry  on  the  remainder 
of  the  troops,  and  at  the  same  time  he  pressed  eagerly 
forward  along  the  narrow  shelf  between  the  foot  of  the 
Cape  Diamond  cliff  and  the  river,  to  observe  the  character 
of  the  way  and  the  nature  of  the  obstructions.  He  found 
a  log  building  across  the  path,  with  loop-holes  for  mus- 
ketry, and  a  battery  of  two  small  field-pieces.  Perceiving 
no  signs  of  life,  he  believed  the  garrison  not  to  be  on  the 
alert.  Burning  with  impatience  and  certain  of  success, 
about  sixty  of  his  men  had  passed  the  first  picket  barrier. 
Montgomery  shouted,  "  Men  of  New  York,  you  will  not 
fear  to  follow  where  your  General  leads  ;  push  on,  my 
boys,  and  Quebec  is  ours  !"  and  rushed  forward  to  surprise 
and  take  the  battery. 

But  there  had  been  vigilant  eyes  and  ears  within  that 
log-house  all  this  while.  It  was  occupied  by  thirty  Can- 
adians and  eight  British  militia-men,  under  Captain  John 
Coffin,  with  nine  seamen,  under  Captain  Barnsfare  (mas- 
ter of  a  transport),  who  acted  as  cannoniers.  The  noise 
on  Cape  Diamond  had  given  them  the  alarm,  and  through 
the  vail  of  snow,  in  the  dim  light  of  a  winter's  dawn,  they 
had  seen  the  republicans  approaching.  They  waited  un- 
til Montgomery  and  his  men  had  gained  a  slight  eminence 


498  PHILIP     SCHUYLER. 


|>Et.  42. 


within  fifty  yards  of  the  mouths  of  their  cannon,  which 
were  loaded  with  grape-shot,  when  Barnsfare  gave  the 
word,  and  they  were  discharged  with  deadly  effect.  Mont- 
gomery, Macpherson,  Cheesman,  and  ten  others  in  the 
narrow  pass  were  slain.  The  remainder  of  the  troops,  ap- 
palled by  the  death  of  their  general,  fled  in  confusion 
toward  Wolfe's  Cove,  when  Lieutenant-Colonel  Campbell, 
the  quarter-master-general,  being  the  senior  officer,  took 
the  command. 

Captain  Samuel  Mott  was  eager  to  go  forward,  but 
he  was  almost  alone  in  sentiment.  The  other  officers  coun- 
seled a  withdrawal.  The  deadly  battery  of  cannon  and 
musketry  was  pouring  forth  volley  after  volley,  and  Camp- 
bell, after  brief  consultation,  ordered  a  retreat. 

In  the  death  of  Macpherson  and  Cheesman,  the  cause 
of  liberty  lost  two  noble  and  gallant  young  champions. 
Only  three  weeks  before,  the  former  wrote  to  General 
Schuyler,  saying : 

"  Will  you  give  me  leave  to  mention  to  you  my  inclination  to  serve 
in  some  regiment  in  the  new  levies  ?  The  happiness  I  experienced  while 
in  yours,  and  since  I  have  been  of  General  Montgomery's  family,  is  les- 
sened when  I  reflect  that  I  am  but  half  a  soldier,  as  being  at  head- 
quarters exempts  me  from  many  fatigues  which  others  undergo.  This, 
and  a  natural  desire  of  rising,  which  is,  I  believe,  common  to  every  one, 
lead  me  to  request  the  favor  of  your  recommendation  for  such  a  com- 
mission as  you  think  I  deserve.  If  this  takes  place,  I  should  not  desire, 
on  that  account,  to  quit  the  present  service  till  the  reduction  of  Quebec 
(an  event,  I  imagine,  at  no  great  distance),  till  when  I  think  the  servico 
of  all  here  indispensably  necessary.  After  that,  many  of  us  may  be 
spared."* 

On  the  very  day  of  the  death  of  these  gallant  soldiers, 
Schuyler  wrote  to  Montgomery — "  I  have  warmly  recom- 
mended Macpherson  to  Congress  for  a  majority,  happy  if  I 
can,  at  any  time,  serve  so  worthy  a  young  gentleman."f 
*  Autograph  letter,  Dec.  6,  1775.      f  *©■  Letter  Books,  Dec.  31,  1775. 


1115.]         GALLANT     MEN     AND     ACTIONS.  499 

Only  a  week  before,  young  Cheesman  wrote  to  his 
father,  saying : 

"I  am  now  within  one  mile  of  Quebec,  waiting  for  an  opportunity, 
or  rather  a  convenient  time,  to  enter  the  city,  which  must  be  taken  by 
storm.  .  .  .  Our  army  is  dwindled  away  to  almost  nothing,  officers  as 
well  as  men.  Every  trifling  disorder  that  overtakes  them  renders  them 
unfit  to  remain  longer  with  their  company  or  in  the  service  of  their 
country.  My  company,  only,  keeps  their  officers,  all  of  whom  are  in 
health,  for  which  I  thank  that  God  who  has  hitherto  preserved  and 
given  us  victory.  ...  I  can't  tell  when  I  shall  return  home,  for  I  can't 
do  like  many  of  my  fellow-citizens — after  putting  my  hand  to  the  plow, 
look  back ;  especially  now,  when  my  country  calls  loudly  for  assistance. 
I  hope  those  who  come  to  reinforce  us  will  press  forward,  and  not  shrink, 
like  numbers  who  came  about  the  time  I  did  in  the  service,  both 
Yorkers  and  New  England  men.  My  love  to  brothers  and  sisters ;  my 
respects  to  Messrs.  Franklin  and  inquiring  friends,  and  duty  to  you  and 
mamma."* 

While  these  sad  events  were  occurring  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence side  of  the  town,  Arnold  was  making  his  way  through 
St.  Roque  to  barriers  on  the  St.  Charles.  The  snow  lay  in 
huge  drifts,  and  as  he  approached  the  Sault  au  Matelot 
the  pathway  was  narrowed  by  heavy  masses  of  ice,  which 
the  wind  and  tide  had  cast  upon  the  shore. 

It  was  before  daybreak  when  Arnold,  at  the  head  of  a 
forlorn  hope  of  twenty-five  men,  passed  the  foot  of  the  de- 
clivity below  Palace  Grate.  The  town  was  in  an  uproar. 
The  bells  of  the  city  were  ringing,  the  drums  were  beating 
a  general  alarm,  the  cannon  were  beginning  to  roar,  and 
musketeers  were  mounting  the  walls.  Arnold  was  accom- 
panied by  his  secretary,  Captain  Oswald,  and  followed  by 
Captain  Lamb  and  his  artillery,  with  a  single  field-piece 
upon  a  sled.  Next  to  these  were  a  party  with  ladders  and 
other  scaling  implements,  followed  by  Morgan  and  his  rifle- 
men ;  and  in  the  rear  of  all  was  the  main  body,  in  number 
twice  that  of  Montgomery's  division.    They  were  compelled 

*  Autograph  letter,  December  23,  1775. 


500  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  LffiT.  42. 

to  march  in  single  file,  and  the  drifts  of  snow  became  so 
deep,  as  the  pathway  narrowed,  that  Lamb  and  his  com- 
pany abandoned  their  cannon,  and  joined  in  the  assault 
with  small  arms. 

The  first  barricade  was  a  two  gun  battery  at  the  Sault 
au  Matelot,  a  narrow  place  below  a  projecting  crag  of  the 
promontory.  Just  as  Arnold,  with  the  advance,  entered 
the  narrow  space  leading  to  this  battery,  he  was  observed 
by  the  sentinels  upon  the  walls,  and  the  whole  detachment 
were  immediately  exposed  to  an  enfilading  fire  of  musketry. 
Livingston,  by  some  mistake,  had  failed  to  make  the  attack 
upon  St.  Louis  Gate,  and  hence  the  attention  of  the  enemy 
was  not  drawn  off  from  Arnold's  movements. 

Arnold,  with  his  forlorn  hope,  now  rushed  forward  to 
attack  the  barrier,  when  he  was  severely  wounded  in  the 
right  leg,  near  the  knee,  by  a  musket  ball  that  passed 
through  it.  He  was  completely  disabled,  and  was  borne 
away  to  the  general  hospital.  Morgan's  men  immediately 
rushed  forward  and  fired  into  the  port-holes,  while  their 
leader,  with  Porterfield  and  others,  mounted  the  redoubt 
by  ladders,  made  prisoners  of  the  captain  and  guard,  and 
took  possession  of  the  battery  with  a  shout  that  struck 
terror  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy. 

The  command  of  Arnold's  division  now  devolved  on 
Morgan.  The  storm  was  beating  furiously,  and  the  cold 
was  intense.  Joined  by  Greene,  Meigs,  and  Bigelow,  the 
assailing  party  numbered  about  two  hundred.  Day  was 
just  dawning,  and  without  guides  or  any  knowledge  of  the 
way  before  them,  they  pressed  forward  in  the  morning  twi- 
light to  the  second  barricade,  at  the  eastern  extremity  of 
Sault  au  Matelot  street.  There  the  defenses  extended  from 
the  rocky  declivity  to  the  river,  and  the  present  [1860]  cus- 
tom-house, then  a  private  dwelling,  had  cannon  projecting 
from  the  wings  of  the  gable.  A  fierce  contest  ensued.  For 
three  hours  the  contestants  fought  desperately,  and  many 


1115.]  VICTORY     DENIED.  501 

were  killed  on  both  sides.  Above  the  din  of  battle  and  the 
roar  of  the  tempest,  the  voice  of  Morgan  was  heard  en- 
couraging his  men,  and  at  last  the  republicans  gained  the 
victory.  They  drove  the  British  from  their  guns,  captured 
the  battery,  and  took  refuge  in  the  stone  houses  near. 
Captain  Lamb  was  severely  wounded  in  the  cheek  by  a 
grape  shot,  and  was  borne  off  senseless ;  and  other  officers 
were  more  or  less  injured. 

Inspirited  by  success,  Morgan  was  preparing  to  push 
forward  and  force  his  way  into  the  town,  when  news  of 
sad  disaster  reached  him.  Captain  Dearborn  had  been 
stationed  near  Palace  Gate,  in  the  rear,  and  was  discovered 
by  the  sentinels  at  day-break.  By  that  time  Carleton  was 
aware  of  the  repulse  at  Cape  Diamond  and  that  Brown's 
attack  was  only  a  feint ;  he  therefore  directed  all  his  ener- 
gies against  Arnold's  division.  He  immediately  dispatched 
a  considerable  force  toward  the  suburb  St.  Roque,  to  gain 
the  rear  of  the  Americans.  As  they  sallied  out  of  Palace 
Gate,  they  surprised  and  captured  Dearborn's  corps,  pressed 
onward  to  the  Sault  au  Matelot,  and  cut  off  the  retreat  of 
the  republicans  from  the  lower  town.  Intelligence  of  this 
movement  and  of  the  retreat  of  Campbell,  reached  Mor- 
gan at  the  same  time.  Pie  perceived  that  further  eiforts  to 
penetrate  the  walled  city  would  be  vain  without  cooperation, 
and  he  proposed  to  his  soldiers  to  cut  their  way  through  their 
enemies  in  the  rear.  This  was  impossible,  and  at  ten  o'clock, 
the  brave  leader  of  riflemen  and  the  whole  surviving  party 
under  him,  four  hundred  and  twenty-six  in  number,  were 
surrendered  prisoners  of  war.  More  than  one  hundred,  it 
was  estimated,  had  been  killed  and  wounded.  The  re- 
mainder of  Arnold's  division,  who  were  in  the  rear  as  a 
reserve,  retreated,  leaving  the  brass  six  pound  field-piece 
imbedded  in  the  snow. 

Carleton,  still  fearing  the  disloyalty  of  the  inhabitants  of 


502  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

Quebec,  was  afraid  to  send  out  troops  in  pursuit  of  the  fugi- 
tive Americans  ;  and  their  camp,  formed  by  order  of  Arnold 
a  short  distance  from  the  town,  remained  undisturbed. 
Although  badly  wounded  and  suffering  severely,  that  in- 
trepid officer  was  not  for  a  moment  forgetful  of  his  duty. 
He  had  been  borne  through  the  snow  to  the  general  hospi- 
tal on  the  St.  Charles,  exposed  to  the  enfilading  fire  of  the 
musketeers  upon  the  walls  of  Quebec  ;  and,  while  tortured 
with  pain,  he  wrote  a  dispatch  to  General  Wooster,  giving 
an  account  of  the  disaster  as  far  as  he  was  informed  (his 
detachment  was  yet  fighting),  and  asking  for  immediate 
reinforcements  ;  for,  he  declared  in  another  letter,  "  I  have 
no  thoughts  of  leaving  this  proud  town  until  I  enter  it  in 
triumph.  I  am  in  the  way  of  my  duty,  and  I  know  no 
fear."  Well  would  it  have  been  for  his  memory,  had 
he  perished  like  Montgomery  on  that  tempestuous  morn- 
ing, and  been  wrapped  in  the  winding-sheet  of  deep  snow- 
drifts. 

When  the  contest  was  ended  and  the  prisoners  were  se- 
cured, Carleton  sent  out  a  detachment  to  search  for  the 
body  of  Montgomery,  his  old  companion-in-arms,  whom  he 
remembered  as  a  noble  young  man,  and  beloved  by  Wolfe's 
army  for  his  vivacity,  generous  spirit,  and  manly  virtues. 
He  was  also  well-known  and  fondly  remembered  by  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  Cramahe,  Major  Caldwell,  and  other 
officers  in  Quebec,  who  were  with  him  at  its  conquest  by 
the  English  in  1759.  His  body  was  found  with  those  of 
Macpherson,  Cheesman  and  others,  at  a  point  now  called 
Pres-de-Ville,  where  he  fell,  shrouded  in  the  snow-drifts. 
The  bodies  were  conveyed  into  the  city;  and  when  that  of 
Montgomery  was  identified,  it  is  said  Carleton  pronounced 
over  it  a  brief  and  touching  eulogy,  while  his  eyes  were 
streaming  with  the  tears  of  real  sorrow.  Cramahe  took 
charge  of  the  remains  and  buried  them,  with  those  of 


1775.]  MONTGOMERY     THE     BELOVED.  503 

Macpherson,  within  the  fortifications  of  the  city,  where 
they  reposed  forty-two  years,  and  were  then  conveyed  to 
New  York  and  deposited  beneath  a  beautiful  mural  mon- 
ument erected  by  order  of  Congress,  on  the  exterior  of  the 
front  wall  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  that  city. 

Intelligence  of  Montgomery's  death  went  over  the 
country,  like  the  tolling  of  a  funeral  bell.  His  victories 
had  awakened  the  voices  of  loudest  praise  in  all  parts  of 
the  land,  and  his  death  was  felt  as  a  personal  bereavement 
by  thousands  who  admired  and  loved  him  for  his  bravery 
and  goodness.  "Never  was  a  city  so  universally  struck 
with  grief/'  wrote  Thomas  Lynch,  in  Philadelphia,  to 
Schuyler,  in  Albany,  "  as  this  was,  on  hearing  of  the  loss 
of  Montgomery.  Every  lady's  eye  was  filled  with  tears. 
I  happened  to  have  company  at  dinner,  but  none  had  in- 
clination for  any  other  food  than  sorrow  or  resentment. 
Poor,  gallant  fellow  !  If  a  martyr's  sufferings  merit  a 
martyr's  reward,  his  claim  is  indisputable.  I  am  sure 
from  the  time  he  left  Ticonderoga  to  the  moment  of  his 
release  by  death,  his  sufferings  had  no  interval.  He  now 
rests  from  his  labor,  and  his  works  can't  but  follow  him."* 

The  sad  intelligence  fell  with  blighting  force  upon  the 
heart  of  Schuyler,  who  loved  Montgomery  as  a  brother. 
In  his  last  letter  to  him,  he  had  said,  in  conclusion — "Adieu, 
my  dear  sir ;  may  I  have  the  pleasure  soon  to  announce 
another  of  your  victories,  and  afterward,  that  of  embracing 
you."  Five  days  afterward  in  a  brief  letter  to  Washington, 
Schuyler  wrote,  "  I  wish  I  had  no  occasion  to  send  my  dear 
General  the  inclosed  melancholy  accounts.  My  amiable 
friend,  the  gallant  Montgomery,  is  no  more  !  The  brave 
Arnold  is  wounded,  and  we  have  met  with  a  very  severe 
check  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on  Quebec.    May  heaven 

*  Autograph  Letter,  January  20th,  1776. 


504  PHILIP     SCHUYLER.  [JEt.  42. 

be  graciously  pleased  to  terminate  the  misfortune  here  ! 
I  tremble  for  our  people  in  Canada."* 

Schuyler  sent  an  express  to  the  Continental  Congress 
with  the  sad  intelligence  of  Montgomery's  death ;  and  that 
body,  by  resolution,  decreed  to  "  transmit  to  future  ages,  as 
examples  truly  worthy  of  imitation,  his  patriotism,  conduct, 
boldness  of  enterprise,  insuperable  perseverance,  and  con- 
tempt of  danger  and  death,"  by  erecting  a  monument  to  be 
procured  "  from  Paris  or  any  other  part  of  France,"  by  Dr. 
Franklin,  "  with  an  inscription,  sacred  to  his  memory,  and 
expressive  of  his  amiable  character  and  heroic  achievements." 
They  also  requested  the  Kev.  Dr.  Smith,  of  Philadelphia, 
"  to  prepare  and  deliver  a  funeral  oration  in  his  honor. "f 

The  opposition  members  of  the  British  Parliament, 
with  eloquent  words  spoke  his  praise.  Chatham  and 
Burke  displayed  some  of  their  happiest  specimens  of  eul- 
ogy, mixed  with  the  keenest  reproof  of  ministers;  and 
Colonel  Barre,  who  was  a  fellow-soldier  with  Montgomery 
in  the  last  war,  shed  tears  of  real  grief,  as,  upon  the  floor 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  he  expatiated  upon  the  virtues 
of  the  slain  hero.  But  the  premier,  Lord  North,  whose 
unwise  measures  had  kindled  the  war,  said,  "I  can  not 
join  in  lamenting  the  death  of  Montgomery,  as  a  public 
loss.  He  was  undoubtedly  brave,  humane,  and  generous  ; 
but  still  he  was  only  a  brave,  humane,  and  generous  rebel. 
Curse  on  his  virtues,  they  've  undone  his  country."  Fox 
retorted — "  The  term  rebel  is  no  certain  mark  of  disgrace. 
All  the  great  assertors  of  liberty, '  the  saviors  of  their  coun- 
try, the  benefactors  of  mankind  in  all  ages,  have  been  call- 
ed rebels.  We  owe  the  Constitution  which  enables  us  to 
sit  in  this  House  to  a  rebellion." 

*  MS.  Letter  Books,  January  13th,  1776. 
f  Journals  of  Congress,  January  25,  1776. 

end  or  VOL.  I. 


«• 


t   /.    tx  a  ^r    TTpr 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TQ— ►     202  Main  Library 


LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 


F 


ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 


miP  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

"max 


2  3 


WT 


RtC.ClR.fES1  1'80 


■  ,  ^RARYIJAH— 


MAY  1  0  19^4 


-uNivrormirr  5ERKT- 
toivstiinintprlifrgq-Uaft 


mi  2    i& 


L 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
FORM  NO.  DD6,  60m,  11/78  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


PS 


p* 


kJ   I  ^>\<y  / 


